I'm just another talking head

Got a phone call from Citibank today wanting to know why I didn't send them the correct amount on a payment for a business credit card. Apparently I misread the amount and sent them $10 less than was due. Instead of putting it and associated late charges on the next bill, they have a flunky in India whom speaks a sort of English language place a call to the US demanding the $10 and a $39 late fee immediately. I told him to hold onto his sorry ass and I would immediately send him $10 via their web site, but he could stick his head in his ass and suck out the late fee. He told me not to use such language, and I asked him for his name and he would not give it, probably because he knew I couldn't pronounce or spell it anyway. I then asked if he was calling from India, and he said that he was. I said isn't that the country where you folks sell your unwanted female offspring as prostitutes and I asked if he had any sisters I might be interested in. I then told him that he had some nerve to phone anyone in the US and demand anything and besides, it looks like Citibank is insolvent anyway, and he would be soon on the streets with a beggar's cup.

Take everything I said to him and sprinkle profusely with some of my favorite adjectives, and you will know what he heard. In the past, I've been known to kick open doors and say similar things to others of his type in this rat hole town I live in. I've also been known to have to pay for repairing said doors. I don't like being mean, and sometimes I regret things I say and do, especially in the heat of battle, but if the bastard had been nice, and if I could have understood his version of the English language, we could have settled it like gentlemen and I would have gone about a normal day. Instead of normal and mundane, it has turned into a great day and I regret none of the conversation I had with the Citibank representative.

Sometimes it is well worth getting out of bed!
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Mr. Obama and ladies and gentlemen of the United States Congress, don't be in any hurry to pass a stimulus bill. Throwing money at what you perceive to be the problem is going to help only a few people and only for a little while. Please think this thing through before trying to knee-jerk it away. You have plenty of time to do so. It took many years for us to get into this dilemma, and it will take many years for us to get out of it. If it was only the US economy that is involved, I might think differently, but nations worldwide are hurting more or less the same as we. Tossing out some funding to your constituents may make it look like you are trying to do something positive, and it may help you get re-elected next year, but think of the long term effects of borrowing from China and the Arab world which already has us by our energy-dependent short hairs. Any money you blindly use to try to alleviate the situation domestically is going to help with the worldwide crises very little, if any. Unless this is attacked globally, there is little chance of getting anything fixed anytime soon.
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