Recent Comments

1. about 15 hours ago on Over the Hedge

   “I know at one time clerks had to pass a civil service test in order to be hired, but sadly, that is no longer a requirement.”

   Not only did I have to take (and pass) the standard Civil Service Exam, I also had to take and pass a driver’s exam for operating a motor vehicle from the right seat. That included a 2-hour ride-along by an examiner who required me to drive my entire route, just to make sure that I did nothing unlawful – like backing up.

   I drove the entire driving test twice: first in a USPS truck. Then, because I might have to deliver the mail from my own vehicle (if there were no available trucks due to poor maintenance) using my own standard-transmission vehicle, driving it and using the left-side clutch from the right seat without ever stalling the vehicle. I passed both sections of that test with 100% scores.

   My point in the previous post was that few people really understand how desperately hard the USPS carriers work, or how absolutely awful their working conditions often are. No heat in -0F temps. No air conditioning (or even a cheap FAN) in +90F weather. Yet in spite of that, the carriers in my area are unfailingly smart, kind, helpful, polite, and smiling – regardless of what their personal lives hold for them.

   I try to treat them the same. I even (twice a year, at least) meet the carrier who regularly delivers my mail, and hand him/her an envelope with a little ’bonus" check inside a thank-you card. It always seems to brighten their day.

2. about 15 hours ago on Mike Lester

   It simply amazes me that Trump seems to be unable to learn from his own mistakes. He went into this debate determined to endlessly repeat lie after lie about himself and “the Left”, which all have been debunked repeatedly. In that, he succeeded in telling the lies. Above, dotbup and others have enumerated just a small portion of his lies.

   This time, though, he had no adoring MAGAt cultists cheering him on. Only Joe was there, and Joe cut him to ribbons by speaking facts and calling out his lies. Joe beat him to pieces for his fearmongering.

   Trump relied on being able to score debate points on his making everything concerning this election about the “border crisis” that he himself created. Also, he tried on the concept that “the lying Left” wants to kill babies. Joe cut him off at the ankles, leaving only his feet to try and tap-dance his way around his own prevarications.

   Joe won the debate, hands down.

3. about 16 hours ago on Mike Lester

   No. We watched and saw exactly what we expected. Joe presented proven facts and valid responses.

   Trump sent his entire time on live mic trying to bully Biden, lying, evading questions, praising insurrectionists, contradicting himself, and bragging about his 5-question “IQ” (actually cognizance) test and (cheating) golf handicap. He attempted (and utterly failed) to make every response a paean of praise for Donald Trump. He repeatedly levied the same old tired mantra of proven-false accusations against Biden, the legal system, and anyone/everyone who has tried to hold him accountable for his violations of law. Add to that that he constantly harped on fear-mongering.

   Most particularly, he obdurately refused to give a straight yes/no answer to simple questions, like whether he would honor the election results. Instead he lofted off into grand la-la about how great Donald Trump is. In the terms of propaganda, that’s a "Dog-Track Rabbit, used to divert the listener’s attention from the real subject. Trump uses this incessantly.

   Trump lost the debate. Resoundingly. Just as he loses at everything he touches. The fact-checkers will cut his fact-free comments to ribbons.

4. about 16 hours ago on Rose is Rose

   Boo.

5. about 16 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   We (the gullible populace of the US) keep stumbling over and over against the same piece of misinformation. Joe Biden was NOT “barely aware” or unable to speak. The man has had a life-long speech impediment. He has to gather his thoughts, speak slowly and carefully, and (I noticed) jot down his thoughts on a pad of paper to get the words said right.

   Try doing that sometime while speaking in public debate. Have someone else make a video of you doing it. You won’t believe how ridiculous you look. Joe actually does a pretty good job of it. He even (properly!) used the lecture/debate method of numbering his responses to specific points. Joe tore Trump apart, both in general (“Everything he just said was a lie!”, which was TRUE several times) and in particular (“The fact is that there is NO support for his claim that many border-crossers came out of prisons or mental institutions!”).

   Trump spent his entire time on live mic bullying, lying, evading questions, praising insurrectionists, contradicting himself, and bragging about his 5-question “IQ” (actually cognizance) test and (cheating) golf handicap. He attempted to make every response a paean of praise for Donald Trump. He repeatedly levied the same old tired mantra of false accusations against Biden, the legal system, and anyone/everyone who has tried to hold him accountable for his violations of law. Add to that that he constantly harped on fear-mongering.

   Most particularly, he obdurately refused to give a straight yes/no answer to simple questions, like whether he would honor the election results. He lofted off into grand la-la about how great Donald Trump is. In the terms of propaganda, that’s a "Dog-Track Rabbit) used to divert the listener’s attention from the real subject. Trump uses this incessantly.

   Biden just presented truth and facts.

   Trump lost the debate. Resoundingly. Just as he loses at everything he touches. The fact-checkers will cut his fact-free comments to ribbons.

6. about 17 hours ago on Over the Hedge

   Shortly after our local outdoor public pool opened after construction in 1949, the pool manager taught a bunch of us kids that (because of the Chlorine) it was OK to pee or pass gas while in the pool. Launching submarines was vigorously discouraged, since those semi-solids fouled both the pump and the filter. Such an act required “OK, everybody out, the pool is closed until tomorrow at noon!”, and then hours to completely drain the pool, hot-water-jet-spray-clean the pump impeller and filter, and then completely re-fill the pool at a cost to the County of $5.00 for the water. It was deemed to be both a public nuisance and a fineable misdemeanor.

   The County Judge set a $25 fine for the first offense, $50 for the second, and $100 (and banning for the season) for the third. This was in a time when admission for the day to the pool cost $0.05, and a gallon of milk was under $0.10. The $25 fine represented a week’s groceries for a family of 4. This Summer, that pool admission is 100 X that, at $5.00.

7. about 17 hours ago on Over the Hedge

   Easy. First you relax your anal sphincter …

8. 1 day ago on Over the Hedge

   The Trump administration, and now the Trump-directed House, refuse(d) to adequately fund the USPS for anything. Just called its service terrible and would do nothing to fix the situation. Among other issues, USPS had trucks that had NO heaters, and no air conditioning. I worked for USPS on Friday/Saturday, breaking in to replace a carrier who saw the handwriting on the wall and wanted to retire.

   I was given 3 weeks to “learn” his route. That route was 278 boxes long, more than 1500 pieces of mail to be sorted daily, entirely RFD, and I was allowed only 8 hours to sort, pack, load the truck and get gas, and then drive the entire route, beginning at 06:00 Mon – Sat. After 3 months of trying, I never finished before 16:00, and the Supervisor refused to split off some of my route to another carrier. The station was notoriously understaffed and overworked – should have had at least 4 more carriers and at least 6 more trucks to allow for trucks that just stopped running for a complete lack of routine maintenance.

   The carrier I was to replace had been doing the route for more than 30 years, and could sort the mail in 3 hours blindfolded. I was expected to learn his 30-year skills in 3 weeks. Completely unreasonable. I told the Supervisor this, and she replied that I was on probation (because my comments were threatening her annual performance bonus).

   I quit. After I left, the Supervisor was fired, and the replacement Super hired 2 more carriers, 1 to fill my slot and 1 to take over 10% of each of the 10 routes. All the carriers still were overloaded.

9. 1 day ago on Over the Hedge

   USPS in our area is very good, and the carriers are quite polite. UPS not so much, but still reliable. Other delivery services (of which we have about 5 in the Mpls Metro area) are both unreliable (except if you pay about double for same-day delivery) and mostly rude.

10. 2 days ago on Over the Hedge

    Studying history raised my expectations of Humans not repeating such dumbness.