Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Yes, we do.
The following was submitted anonymously for the purposes of identity protection. I assure you that I know the author and can attest to veracity of what happened. Below the fold is a summary of the author's experience with Directv.I have been a Directv customer since 2000. However, an event has occurred that I believe should serve as a warning for others subscribing to their service.
In May ‘07, I had a service call from Directv because of bad satellite reception. A technician solved the problem by installing a new receiver and access card. He took the old receiver and card with him when he left. He did not leave me with a copy of any invoice.
Flash forward to November 6, 2008, the date I opened my latest Directv billing statement (dated October 27, 2008) and discovered a number of charges had been made using my former access card. These charges covered a five-month period of time—from May ‘08 through October ‘08. Included in the list was an item concerning a receiver that had been disconnected.
A call to Customer Service served only to get me the address of Directv’s Billing Disputes Office, located in Colorado. The following day I mailed that office a copy of the October statement along with a cover letter notifying them of the situation. Meanwhile, further calls to Customer Service revealed that my former access card was still active under my name and there was no record of the former receiver ever having been turned in. I call I made directly to the installer’s toll-free number revealed only that my account could not be located.
On November 20th, a representative from the Billing Disputes Office contacted me by phone. I was told that Directv would credit my account as “one-time courtesy” but that in the future I would be held responsible for any further charges. When I protested yet again that these were not my charges, the representative simply suggested that the next time equipment was replaced and removed from my home I should contact Directv myself to see if it had indeed been turned in.
Directv contracts much of its technical work out to other companies but appears to exercise little oversight vis-a-vis technicians and equipment. Thus Directv’s customers must shoulder the burden in this area.
I hope my experience will prevent other Directv customers from enduring a similar ordeal.
Labels: Consumer Safety, fraud
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.Labels: Blog news, Blog Talk Radio, The Gathering Storm
Abraham Lincoln was our first President to make Thanksgiving Day a national holiday. He probably set the observance in late November so as to correlate the holiday with the date of the Mayflower's anchoring (November 21, 1620, by the modern Gregorian calendar but November 11, 1620, by the Julian calendar used by the Pilgrims).The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.In keeping with above words of President Lincoln, who was in 1863 going through a troubled time with the burdens of civil war and the responsibilities of leadership, let us meditate upon our blessings, too numerous to count — no matter how many difficulties 2008 has brought to our lives.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
A. Lincoln
Labels: Holidays, Thanksgiving
Labels: Christmas, Commentary, our ailing economy, Personal
And served papers at their own banquet in Washington, D.C. The grounds for this legal action can be found below the fold.
the now defunct CAIR MD/VA chapter in Herndon, VirginiaAddendum: Radio Free Dar Al Harb has more, including videos.
Labels: Anti-Dhimmitude, CAIR, JIhad Watch, Radio Free Dar Al Harb
On the I-75 Detroit-Toledo Expressway:
Labels: Anti-Dhimmitude, United American Committee
No doubt, you have by now heard of the information in this article, which appeared in the BBC News on November 18, 2008, as well as in other news media:
A statement purporting to be from the second-in-command of Islamic militant network al-Qaeda has called on Muslims to harm "criminal" America.Of course, Al Qaeda is notorius for such saber rattling, this time blatantly illustrating the low esteem in which Arab Moslems hold blacks, who have traditionally been viewed in Islam as slaves by dint of race (i.e., not Arabs). Nothing new there. Al-Zawahiri's statement also adds fuel to the question as to whether or nor Barack Hussein Obama, once a Moslem because of his father's having been born into Islam, is a Moslem by default or even a secret Moslem who is falsely claiming to be a Christian. Not that Al Qaeda isn't capable of waging a propaganda war.
In the message, Ayman al-Zawahiri is heard accusing President-elect Barack Obama of betraying his Muslim roots.
He also likens him to a "house slave" - who had chosen to align himself with the "enemies" of Islam.
[...]
Zawahiri also criticised Mr Obama - whose father is Muslim - for betraying the Islamic world.
"You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America," he said.
Mr Obama was not an "honourable black American" like Malcolm X, he said, but an "abeed al-beit" - a word that translates as house slave but was rendered "house negro" in the message's English subtitles....
1. The election of Obama is a Defeat to the United States in Iraq and a Victory to the Jihadists.The elaboration under Point 6 is particularly interesting:
2. A Warning to Obama: Don’t Send Additional Troops to Afghanistan
3. The Same U.S. Aggression Remains
4. You’re Not Real [referring to Obama]
5. The War Must Continue…
6. Until You Surrender…
Zawahiri’s response to the election seems to re-frame the results of the election, an election seen around the world as one of change. To Al Qaeda there is no altering of direction in their struggle and agenda. In their own logic, either Obama will end America’s presence altogether in the greater Middle East, or nothing will really change on the global battlefield.Change? Not unless it's Al Qaeda's version of change, meaning that the quest for Islamic supremacism remains the same across fourteen centuries.
...Of all the points raised by Zawahiri on the audiotape, I believe that the central message is this: Redeploy as you wish and change all the leaders you want, but know that we will continue our global fight against you....One thing is certain: These jihadomaniacs know how to perseverate for lo these nearly fourteen centuries. Such a mindset makes them as dangerous as ever. Yet America snores on, hoping for them to change.
Labels: Terrorism, the Obama administration
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.
Our guest for the full hour is Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch and the author of two New York Times bestsellers (all titles available at Amazon.com): The Truth About Muhammad and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). Others of his books include Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn't; Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World's Fastest Growing Faith; and Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West. His bio is HERE.Labels: Blog news, Blog Talk Radio, The Gathering Storm
I don't frequently check the donations account, the link to which is in the sidebar here at Always On Watch.
Now that the intitial weeping and gnashing of teeth following the election has diminished a bit, the conservative blogosphere has a task ahead, that of contrarian dissent. In my view, that dissent shouldn't descend into the lowest of the tactics shown by many of the lefties in the blogosphere and the media. On the other hand, being too refined and too dignified won't likely yield results, with either the electorate or the rebuilding of the Republican Party. Certainly, remaining quiet and sulking will have no outcome.Labels: 2008 Elections, Commentary
You may recall my posting last month about what happened to No Compromise, when Blog Talk Radio interrupted Tracy's interview of Philip J. Berg, who filed a federal law suit about Barack Obama's citizenship qualifications for the Office of President of the United States. Just a few minutes into the interview, Tracy's show was shut down, her account suspended, and the archives placed on hold, unavailable for listening. In fact, going to the show's web site resulted in the site-not-found message.An interesting turn of events occurred: The election is over, so I guess Blog Talk Radio decided it was safe for an outspoken critic of the Obamunist to have her show back. As if I, or anyone else could do any harm to the messiah! If he’s such a messiah why silence his critics? Wow, what a god he must be!...Read more details HERE.
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”I've been unable to confirm whether or not the Supreme Court of the United States is going to hear Berg's law suit. I have read, however, that Obama, the DNC, and all co-defendants will have to respond to Berg's writ of certiorari by December 1. Wikipedia says the following about writ of certiorari:
A writ of certiorari currently means an order by a higher court directing a lower court to send the record in a given case for review.But suppose for a minute that Obama is indeed Constitutionally unqualified for the Office of President. Then what? After all, he won the election on November 4.
Labels: Obama, silencing voices
Quickie link: this posting at Jihad Watch
Professor Hired for Outreach to Muslims Delivers a JoltGood luck with that, Professor. I note that you're now forbidden by the university from teaching future teachers about Islam. And what you're doing could ignite the ummah even more than the Danish cartoons and Fitna did.
Islamic Theologian's Theory: It's Likely the Prophet Muhammad Never Existed
[...]
Contributing last year to a book on Islam, he weighed the odds and called Muhammad's existence "more probable than not." By early this year, though, his thinking had shifted. "The more I read, the historical person at the root of the whole thing became more and more improbable," he says.
He has doubts, too, about the Quran....
[...]
The professor says he's more determined than ever to keep probing his faith. He is finishing a book to explain his thoughts. It's in English instead of German because he wants to make a bigger impact. "I'm convinced that what I'm doing is necessary. There must be a free discussion of Islam," he says.
Labels: Islamic Reformation
I haven't yet opened my copy of Time Magazine, dated November 24, 2008. You can read that edition online HERE. So as not to assail your eyeballs on this Sunday morning, the cover of that edition is below the fold:
Labels: Obama, The media fawn over Obama, Video
Now that 9/11 is some seven years in the past, attention to what the Flight 93 Memorial really represents has waned. In my view, we need to revisit what's been going on in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Labels: Flight 93 Memorial, Islamification, Video
CLICK ON "CONTINUE READING," AND SCROLL TOWARD THE END FOR THE UPDATE!
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.Labels: Blog news, Blog Talk Radio, The Gathering Storm
In northern Israel???
Now Barack Obama is being claimed by not one but as many as 8,000 Beduin tribesmen in northern Israel.Read it all at the above link. And there's a video too.
Although the spokesman for the lost tribe of Obama has yet to reveal the documentary evidence that he says he possesses to support his claim, people are flocking from across the region to pay their respects to the “Beduin Obama”, whose social standing has gone through the roof.
Labels: Obama
Surprise, surprise. NOT!
The Arab daily Al-Hayat on Tuesday quoted a senior Hamas official as saying that United States President-elect Barack Obama's advisors met with members of the Palestinian militant group before the U.S. presidential election.Read the rest HERE.
Ahmed Yusuf, a political advisor to Hamas' Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh, reportedly told the London-based paper that, "The connection was made via email and after that we met with them in Gaza."
Al-Hayat reported that Yusuf also said the relations were maintained after Obama's electoral victory last Tuesday. He said the president-elect's advisors requested that the relations be kept secret so as not to aid his rival, Senator John McCain....
PHILADELPHIA - U.S. Senator Barack Obama on Wednesday criticized former U.S. President Jimmy Carter for meeting with leaders of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas as he tried to reassure Jewish voters that his presidential candidacy is not a threat to them or U.S. support for Israel....Ah, politicians! Well, nobody ever said they were consistent. But this contradiction is, as the phrase goes, "something else." You decide what the "something" is.
Labels: the Obama administration
RALEIGH — Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration.HERE is a pdf file from the Agenda for Shared Prosperity, where other topics are also covered. For a full picture of what the left has in mind, hunker down and do some reading of the site.
[...]
The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers’ retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration.
[...]
The current retirement system, Ghilarducci said, “exacerbates income and wealth inequalities” because tax breaks for voluntary retirement accounts are “skewed to the wealthy because it is easier for them to save, and because they receive bigger tax breaks when they do.”
The American people need an economic agenda that will spur growth, reduce insecurity, and provide broadly shared prosperity....From each according to his hard-earned assets to each who doesn't have the same amount in assets? Such a leveling-out plan is what wealth redistribution attempts to accomplish, dragging down everyone to the same low standard.
Election shows the center has shifted in economic thinkingChange America! Americans have voted in change!
Commenting on the historic election of Barack Obama to the presidency, Economic Policy Institute President Lawrence Mishel writes that U.S. economic thinking has undergone a dramatic shift, and that Americans are increasingly open to careful and effective government intervention. "We can declare with confidence and relief that the conservative era is over," Mishel said in a statement issued Wednesday morning. "It is now possible to build an economy with widely shared prosperity."
Labels: our ailing economy, wealth redistribution
[Image courtesy of Stogie]
Thursday, November 13, at 8:00 P.M. Phoenix time, WC and I will host "Voices of Freedom," a one-hour weekly show on KFNX 1100. See this time-zone chart (Refresh the page!) if you are in a different time zone than Phoenix, Arizona; click directly on the word "PHOENIX" to get a world map of time zones.Labels: Blog news, KFNX Radio, Media, Radio, VOICES OF FREEDOM
Labels: Holidays, Students' work, Veterans Day
According to John Podesta, Obama's transition chief:
"There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," Podesta said. "I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."Read it all.
Labels: the Obama administration
According to this November 6, 2008 article in the Examiner, the following appears in The Plan: Big Ideas for America, a book Rahm Emanuel coauthored:
It's time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service. ...Community, community, community!
Here's how it would work. Young people will know that between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service. They'll be asked to report for three months of basic civil defense training in their state or community, where they will learn what to do in the event of biochemical, nuclear or conventional attack; how to assist others in an evacuation; how to respond when a levee breaks or we're hit by a natural disaster. These young people will be available to address their communities' most pressing needs.
Emanuel and co-author Bruce Reed insist "this is not a draft," but go on to write of young men and women, "the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service." They also warn, "[s]ome Republicans will squeal about individual freedom," ruling out any likelihood that they would let people opt out of universal citizen service.Of course, as White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel himself cannot put into place such a plan of universal service. But his position on this topic is indicative of one direction the upcoming administration might take. Moreover, Obama has stated his support of fifty hours of government-approved service as a federal requirement for earning a high school diploma.
The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.Service or slavery? You decide.
Labels: the Obama administration
Quickie link: "Out: Seances. In: Mutts" by Dana Milbank in today's Washington Post. The complete article is in the continuation of this post. Your comments welcome.
As the time grew nearer for Barack Obama's first news conference as president-elect yesterday, aides announced that the start would be delayed by 10 to 15 minutes. Then they announced a five-minute delay. Then another. Finally, the next president finally sauntered onto the stage, a fashionable 23 minutes late.
After eight years of on-time news conferences by President Bush, the nation now has tangible proof: The Democrats are back in charge.
There were other signs of change, too, some refreshing, some less so.
The president-elect, tickled that reporters stood when he entered the room for the first time, forgot the standard "Please be seated."
When asked whether he had conferred with any living ex-presidents, he seemed to dis Ronald Reagan's ailing widow. "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances," he said. (He later called her to apologize.) Even more alarming for those steeped in the protocol of the Beltway, Obama, in Chicago, called on representatives of both local newspapers but -- horrors -- didn't call on The Washington Post.
But aside from those stylistic breaks from his predecessor, the agent of change was a study in caution.
He wore a Bush-blue tie. Over his shoulder loomed Jimmy Carter's Fed chairman. And when he opened his mouth to speak, the first word that came out after "Thank you very much" was: "Uhhhh." (Pause.)
Timing of an economic stimulus? "I want to see a stimulus package sooner rather than later."
How he would respond to a letter from the Iranian president? "I think we've got to think it through."
His presidential appointments? "I want to move with all deliberate haste, but I want to emphasize 'deliberate' as well as 'haste.' "
Even a question about what breed of dog his family would choose as a pet provoked a cagey reply: "Malia is allergic, so it has to be hypoallergenic; there are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic. On the other hand, our preference would be to get a shelter dog, but, obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. So whether we're going to be able to balance those two things, I think, is a pressing issue on the Obama household."
If Obama's first moves are an indication, he plans not so much a break with the past as a restoration of Democratic mandarins. Among those standing behind him yesterday were many of Bill Clinton's Cabinet officers and top aides: Bill Daley, Bob Reich, Larry Summers, Rahm Emanuel, Bob Rubin and Laura Tyson.
No technique was spared in projecting stability and reassurance. In addition to the economic muckety-mucks who stood silently on stage behind the president-elect, Obama's aides decided to make it an eight-flag news conference. Thus the television screen was a tableau of red, white, blue, and Paul Volcker's belly sticking through his unbuttoned suit jacket. Obama's lectern was adorned with a graphic announcing "THE OFFICE of the PRESIDENT ELECT."
Reading his opening statement carefully, he offered a caution: "Now, the United States has only one government and one president at a time. And until January 20th of next year, that government is the current administration." True, but for the first time, his words carried the weight of president-elect, and Wall Street traders voted with their buy and sell orders.
When Obama began his speech, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 255 points for the day.
The AP's Nedra Pickler asked what economic measures he would take in his first 100 days. He offered boilerplate about how "my transition team is going to be monitoring very closely what happens over the course of the next several months." The Dow's gains shrank to 145 points.
ABC News's Jake Tapper asked how he would respond to a congratulatory letter from Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "I will be reviewing the letter from President Ahmadinejad, and we will respond appropriately," Obama answered. The Dow's increase on the day had shrunk to 131 points. Only after Obama disappeared behind the curtain did the market resume its advance.
CBS's Chip Reid asked whether he would confront Bush on points of disagreement when they meet next week. "We are gratified by the invitation" to the White House, Obama answered. "I'm not going to anticipate problems."
Vagueness prevailed on matters of appointments ("I'm confident we're going to have an outstanding team"), his replacement in the Senate from Illinois ("This is the governor's decision"), his tax plan ("We're going to be continuing to take a look at the data"), any concerns about U.S. intelligence ("I'm going to skip that") and which Washington school his daughters will attend ("We'll be making a decision about that in the future").
He closed with a final platitude -- "The goal of my plan is to provide tax relief to families that are struggling" -- then called the news conference to a close not quite 20 minutes after he began. Walking off the stage, he called out "bonjour" to a French reporter. That part, at least, was a change we can believe in.
Labels: Obama, Washington Post
Most of my students desire to get good grades. Probably because they are homeschoolers and taught from an early age to be more concerned about achievement and progress than about evaluation results themselves, the homeschoolers I work with don't obsess about their scores. Still, they naturally prefer a good grade to a bad one.Labels: Commentary, Education, Personal
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.Labels: Blog news, Blog Talk Radio, The Gathering Storm
Labels: 2008 Elections, change, Obama
Even if you've seen this video before, watch it again. About 10 minutes in length, the video provides a possible answer as to Obama's "coming out of nowhere":
Labels: 2008 Elections, Leftism, Obama
As we count down to the remaining hours of this election, I urge all readers who have not yet voted to continue listening to what the candidates are saying; feel free to question their rhetoric.Labels: 2008 Elections, blog burst, No Obama 08
Labels: Blog news, Commentary
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