MrOpinionated's Blog

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Looking out at our beautiful scenery littered with political signs.  Does anybody really vote for a person because they saw their name on a sign?   What amazes me is when you pull up to a corner and see 5 signs for candidate A and 6 signs for candidate B.  Gee....does the candidate with the most signs win?   And how about you political supporters who actually contribute money to our candidates....do you really like to see your contribution go toward billboards and signs and TV ads and flyers?  What a waste of our time and our natural resources.   We all know who is running.  The candidates have been campaigning for a year already.   Are they giving out awards for the best looking sign?   or the cleverest ad?   Has anyone ever made a decision as they walk toward the polling place and someone hands them a flyer?  I always refuse the flyer and tell them to "save a tree".  I've seen more signs for a Green Party candidate than for anyone else.  What is he gonna tell me....it's recycled paper?  Geesh. 

Just make your decision based on your views and who you think is the best candidate representing your views.  That's what it's supposed to be about, isn't it?  You vote for the person you believe represents you!  Of course we all know that they will do whatever they want to do once they get in office but at least you had a say and realize that your vote does count. 

Let's do away with the ads and signs etc.  We could all boycott this stupid practice if nobody checked off that little box on their tax return.   Maybe the 3 bucks could be put to better use. 

With the failure of Wa Mu caused by bad debts it makes you kind of wonder if the banks should do something to help their borrowers.  I think it would be a good idea to offer some kind of forebearance or moratorium on payments for people who are having trouble paying their mortgages.  With so many people out of work and up to their eyeballs in debt, the number of foreclosures will continue to increase.  Why not offer a decrease in mortgage rates or some other solution to help the consumer out?  Wouldn't that be better than foreclosing on thousands of properties that are not selling.  Why would the banks want to become the owners of all those houses?  Certainly someone has to maintain the properties and taxes have to be paid.  So the property management companies make some money while the banks lose as the value of those foreclosed properties decreases. 

Even while Wa Mu and the other credit card companies are charging 24+ percent interest charges and numerous late fees etc, they are still losing money.  And yet they continue to solicit more and more people.  They entice consumers with more and more credit cards and some people just can't handle it as the payments keep going up and up.   Obviously, if you keep charging more than people can afford the bubble has to burst somewhere. 

Who is to blame?  Of course the consumer must take some of the blame.  They are faced with rising gas, food and utility bills and a shortage of jobs.  But when you put those credit cards in front of someone who is hurting and then charge fees that people can't afford, then you have a problem.

Now that Clay Aiken has finally come out ot the closet, it's all over the media.  BOOGEDY hum.  Who really cares?   He is famous for being a singer and all that counts is that he is a pretty good singer. What he does off-stage is nobody's business.  Unless of course, if he were an axe murderer or child molester. 

I just wish the media would stay the heck out of celebrities private lives and just worry about how well they act or sing or dance or whatever else they do.   We should only be concerned about what we are paying for...a movie or concert ticket or a CD etc and if we are getting a good performance for our hard earned dollar. 

It looks like oil is now trading about $113 a barrel. That's quite a drop from the $145 or so that we saw just a month or two ago I just wonder if our gas prices are decreasing in line with the barrel price. Does anyone know what we were paying for gas as oil hit $113 on the way up? It seems to me that it was less than the $3.69 I paid at the pump this morning in IL.

After 4 years, the courts have knocked down the fine arising from the famous Super Bowl Wardrobe Malfunction.   Can you imagine the legal fees for that one?  Come on people it's 2008!   It was a BOOGEDY.  Everyone has a couple and everyone has seen them.  And gee, it appeared on screen for maybe 3 seconds.   I missed it......did you?   When are we going to stop being so prudish and get over stuff like this.  It's amazing that Jesse Jackson or Imus can say some pretty offensive stuff and it ends with an apology....but show a BOOGEDY on TV and we get a half-million dollar fine and a 4 year court battle.  The network should have just issued an apology to the 3 people who were offended....they will get over it. 

There are plenty of sites around the Internet where you can research the prices in other parts of the country but I decided to do an impromptu survey of some of my friends and family by email. What was interesting and depressing at the same time is that Illinois gas priced at $3.79 is the highest I came across. I work in St Louis, so I fill up before I cross the PSB and save 20 cents a gallon.

Here are the results of my survey with just 5 responses so far:

Indianapolis $3,66, Pensacola, FL $3.45, Phoenix, AZ $3.39 and New Jersey running around $3.39. My friend in Colorado responded with a vague "about the same".

What is interesting is that I heard a story that in NJ, there were lower prices on the Garden State Parkway and Turnpike and that people were waiting at those rest stops for an hour for gas. Consider this also....in New Jersey it is illegal to pump your own gas, so they are getting Full Service for 40 cents less per gallon. And somebody cleans your windshield and will check your oil if you ask.

I just read an article about 11 high school students from northern Illinois who dressed up ....10 of them as bananas and one as a gorilla....and ran through the halls of the school.   They were suspended for what school officials called a "serious" prank.  Come on now....what every happened to having a little fun?  In this day and age when there are drugs and weapons and fights in the school, what is so bad about dressing like a banana?  

I had a high school English teacher who stole the Biology teachers skeleton from his classroom and then left notes around the school.  She even had some kids go into his classroom and sing "dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones".   

What will happen now?  They will put this on the students permanent record and they will be scarred for life for trying to have some fun. 

Every once in a while when I am sitting in a restaurant I wonder why we still tip our wait person.   It just seems odd to me that restaurant owners can get away with paying employees very low wages and they expect that the difference can be made up with tips.

As part of my job, I review the paystubs and income of my customers.   I recently reviewed those of a waitress from another state.   When I calculated her hourly wage, she was making a whopping $3.36 per hour.   But what was even more interesting was when I added in the tips that she reported.   Her gross hourly wage jumped to an amazing $7.77 per hour.  Isn't that pitiful?

Another interesting item appeared on her paystub.   At that point in the year she had "sold" about $36,000 in food items.   So she was making a measley one percent of the gross as wages and the customers were kicking in enough to get her above minimum wage. 

Isn't it about time that the system change.  Let the employers pay a decent wage to the servers and cut out tipping.  The employers would be able to deduct those wages as an expense on their taxes....and it would force the servers to pay taxes on all of their income....not just the tips that they "report".

Tell me what you think about this.

Sorry to say that I think Fox2's running of Tony LaRussa's DUI arrest is in very bad taste.  Haven't we heard enough about this?  Yes, what Tony did was wrong and he admits it and he has to live with it but enough is enough.

I was also a bit upset with the representative from MADD.  He wanted something more to be done.  Tony was dealt with according to the law in Florida.  He lost his license. He admitted his guilt and expressed his regrets.  What more do you want?  Should we hang him?   Would that be enough to satisfy everyone?  Come on people.  Yes he was wrong and it could have been a horrible tragic situation but thankfully nothing worse became of it.  Now let's just go on with our lives, OK?

I just took the latest "Smarter than a 5th Grader" quiz and left there laughing out loud.  One of the questions was "What is Steve Gutenberg famous for inventing"  and the "correct" answer was moveable type.  

Well gee.....I thought that was Johann Gutenberg.

Steve Gutenberg is an actor......"Three Men and a Baby" and a bunch of other flicks.  When did Steve put together a Bible??  

I am about ready to scream about some of the most awful radio commecials I have been hearing lately.   There is nothing funny about trying to be funny and falling flat on your face.  That may work for a clown but not for some of our local businesses.   My top 3 worst commercials are:

1. Culpeppers Restaurant.  It is funny to here some guy pretending to tell St Louis jokes all followed by canned laughter?   Gee, make me want to run to their restaurant for a fun evening. 

2. Oil change stores. ...let's do a cheap version of Jeff Foxworthy's old act....or better yet, let's hire Jeff Foxworthy to do his old act.   If you are doing radio commercials for oil change places...you are probably a has been. 

3. That Vincent mortgage guy.  OK, it seems the agony has stopped but listening to his bloopers on his radio commercials and then saying..."Let's leave it in"  is NOT funny.  Bloopers are not funny.   I am so glad I haven't heard any of those lately.

Does anyone else hate these commercials as much as I do?

Looks like there is a lot of activity at Rosie's Blog and the focus is on the negative.  So why not post a comment here about all the wonderful days that you are grateful for. 

What is the BEST day you have ever had?   

 If I only had one to choose out of the 21,000 plus days I have been around it would be the day that I married my beautiful wife Cindy.  But today is a beautiful day and I am looking forward til tomorrow because I am sure it will be the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE EVER. 

The headline reads.....Paris Hilton is fine after her first night in jail.  Oh, I was so worried about her.   She must've missed at least one party and what about her hair, nail and makeup appointments?   Paris probably had a hard time wondering why she was put in a cell without her "cell" phone.  Well, duh.  What if Nicole calls?  

Not to worry Paris.  I hear that they may close down Rodeo Drive for your homecoming parade.   What a wonderful event that will be.   Let's all go shine up our Bentleys and stock up on caviar because Paris Hilton will be back on the streets in 3 more weeks!

We miss you Paris.  You give us something to laugh about.