Author: wwducat

About: Writer, Technology guy, Photographer, Possibly EX-Software QA Engineer, Worker Bee. Interests: SCUBA, Working out, Friends, New Views, New Vistas, Photography
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Where’s MY Obama Money?

American healthcare

Couldn’t help myself.

When President Obama was first elected there was this little lady being interviewed on television, she was talking about all the good things that were going to happen for her since Obama was elected. One of the things she kept talking about was how she was going to get a new cell phone and a better apartment ’cause of Obama Money that would be coming to her.

When she was asked where that money actually came from she said she didn’t care, ’cause it was Obama money and Obama was going to make everything alright for her.

Myself and 300 coworkers layoffs were a direct result of President Obama and Congress having a pissing contest in late 2010 and early 2011.

Clearly BOTH sides forget that they are there to represent the PEOPLE not partisan interests.

Here we are in the election cycle again. The only thing that has changed, especially for people like me is that our unemployment is running out, we’re paying obscene prices for COBRA coverage ($600) a month and despite the media spin… things are improving at a snails pace.

WHERES MY OBAMACARE?

Guess what?

As usual, since I’m an American worker that has scrabbled and climbed to the middle class, contributed to the economy, paid my bills, didn’t use my house as a piggy bank, and have been responsible for myself and my shit.

I’m actually NOT ELIGIBLE for Obamacare… and won’t be until long after I’m destitute, homeless, masturbating under a bridge, and a burden on society. Which will happen a lot sooner than later paying out COBRA.

In general even in my 50s I don’t use $7200 of medical care per year. I’m extremely thankful for this. So why am I paying $600 a month to maintain COBRA? An even more interesting question is why does the Obama system make it illegal to not pay for insurance?

Between prescriptions, the occasional MD, Dentist, and Optometrist visit I’d say that if I were paying cash maybe I’d spend $3500 per year.

This is EXACTLY why so many employed folks CHOOSE to forego insurance. I went without insurance for YEARS… I paid out of pocket for services rendered…

And you know what???

Because it was a simple cash transaction I got pretty steep discounts and the same or better care BECAUSE the insurance companies weren’t involved. During those times… the Doc would say you need an antibiotic and hand me a bag full of physician samples. Great! no pharmacy bill.

I’ve been in an emergency room exactly once in my life. That was because I had a broken bone. I’ve been to urgent care twice. If there’s any way I can see my Doctor, I’ll call him drive to his office and wait. I’d rather have him look at me than some stranger anyway. 

So folks not having insurance are taking a risk but they do that every fucking day just driving on the freeways, especially now!

7 grand in my yearly budget would be a whole lot better than paying for coverage that I’m not fully utilizing. I’d imagine that the average American family could do a lot with 7K per year.

7 grand is 4 months of unemployment. Honestly, I’d rather have the cash.

So tell me again why we’re all paying so much?

OH Yeah! it’s to cover all the people who have no insurance, low incomes, and who regularly clog emergency rooms with non-emergency situations because they KNOW they will be seen by a doctor even if they refuse to pay their bill.

The disparity isn’t stacked in favor of the rich and middle class it’s stacked in favor of the poor.

So now here comes Obamacare <insert imperial fanfare here>. It does nothing for me. Insurance costs won’t be lower. My care will probably be degraded, and I’ll most likely end up paying out of packet to see the Doctor I want to see instead of some non-english speaking supposed doctor with whom I have nothing in common and whose instructions for my care, I can’t understand anyway.

The thing that annoys me probably most… is this wonderful debacle will put the country in even more debt and effectively lower the quality of care for everyone. Because after all mediocrity and socialism walk hand in hand don’t they?

I don’t shop a K-Mart for… well anything. I’ll be damned if I’m going to be forced into a K-Mart situation in health care. “We can do that required brain surgery for $500, but for $1500 we’ll sterilize the instruments.”

The liberal elite can’t understand why the middle class is pissed off!

It’s easier for them to call us selfish, and greedy rather than to take all their supposed intellect and actually understand the position they’re placing us in.

 

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I’ve been thinking about this for a while…

I’m pretty conservative, albeit some of my previous posts may not reflect that.

Strip

I frankly can’t listen to more than about 30 seconds of OutQ on SiriusXM.I’ve also begun to weary of the Ultra Liberal gay “mainstream” media.

As I’ve previously stated It’s rare that I agree with Joe My God, or Dan Savage… As to Perez Hilton… All I can say is NO!

These bloggers don’t reflect the rest of us. By that I mean the GLBT folks who aren’t into all things GAY. 

There are a lot of other folks that live their lives, do their jobs, and build homes with their significant others without being all about entitlement, or the Democratic party.

They’re the people that don’t feel it’s appropriate to submit to the jack-booted tactics that so many of the GLBT brethren use to keep them, and the straight world at large “in line”… which in this case means silent.

I started wondering who speaks for those of folks that choose to live out of the Urban Meccas of so called gay culture, and who don’t like the concept of an entitlement rich society. Or who may not agree with the likes of the HRC or GLAAD.

I’ve decided that perhaps I could be a voice on the more conservative side of the equation.

To that end let me throw the following ideas at you.

The Republican Party is not, by definition SATAN.

Members of the Republican Party are not always capitalist pigs bent on the destruction of the planet.

Religion is not always automatically bad.

Guns are not evil… they are tools, nothing more. The 2nd amendment must be protected, and responsible gun ownership should be encouraged and as simple as putting a credit card on a gun shop counter.

Someone who doesn’t financially support, or who may in fact speak poorly of the HRC,  EQCA, GLAAD or whatever other organization isn’t a traitor to the cause or an “Uncle Tom”

Not all of us can be artists, rock stars, actors, or “wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice”. It’s not a sin to work hard to derive, and enjoy nice cars, homes, or other material goods from that labor.

The wealthy, should not be expected to suffer disproportionate and unfair tax increases that specifically target them.

War is not always wrong… (the current wars notwithstanding)

Ever increasing Taxes are not the answer to all problems.

Expensive Social programs designed exclusively for “The Poor” are inherently unfair.

It’s not a crime or racist to desire securing our country’s borders. (It’s irrelevant that 200 years ago this land was settled by people of X ethnic origin. By that logic the peoples of the Lakota nation should have the Great Plains and Midwest returned to them. Currently, the United States is owned and occupied by its CITIZENS, deal with it!)

A national healthcare system that increases our national debt by trillions of dollars is nothing short of irresponsible. Fighting such a system is, ultimately in the best interest of the nation.Desiring to institute a single national language is NOT racist

President Obama… Is NOT the second coming, nor are he and his programs in the best interest of this country at this time. (President Obama is not however solely responsible for the problems our country faces.)

Environmental protection should be factored into any equation, however Human needs (food, clothing, power) should always be considered first. Carbon credits are nothing more than a method to collect additional taxes and will force corporations to manufacture their goods in unregulated third world nations. This is bad for our national economy and ultimately bad for the world at large.

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Time for us to unplug

I’ve written in the past about being asked for Twitter and Facebook accounts during Job interviews.

Like many people I don’t particularly like Facebook. When It started it was kind of interesting as a phenomenon but as it progressed I began to think it was really creepy.

If you’re face booking every event in your life, are you really living your life?

Twitter is neat, and I like the brevity of the messages. But again… There are people that tweet non-stop.

I will not and should not be asked to provide Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and / or Twitter accounts to prospective employers. Nor should I be forced to provide websites or anything other than my resume detailing experience, salary history, and references.

If a company wants to look me up…. GOOGLE MY ASS!

Or do a real background check. OR Hey, how about actually talking to me?

Does it matter that I’m a republican and supporting some moronic candidate on Facebook? Or should a company be more interested in whether I have a criminal record or history of violence?

I think it’s time for everyone to revolt against Social Media being used by employers to monitor our private lives. Companies DON’T OWN us 24/7 yet and what I do, who I hang out with, and my hobbies are not a corporate voyeurs business. 

There are several ways I could see this happening,

We all create the “Mom Friendly Accounts”, Only happy stuff here, no questionable fiends, no political or religious comments, and NOTHING that our great Grandmothers wouldn’t approve of.

We all flood the social media sites with the stupid inanities of our everyday lives. This would effectively poison the well of information. How many people are going to read 1000 statuses that say things like “Paid the Electric bill.”, “made dinner”, “farted”, “masturbated”, “had sex”, “paid gas bill”, “saw eye doctor”, “had prostate exam”, “gave blood”, “Oh my god, what a huge stinky dump!”…

We all simply STOP posting statuses

OR

We all close our accounts.

Roma

Speaking of closing accounts… I couldn’t believe what it took to close a MySpace Account. Remember them?

Have we become such a nation of voyeurs that we’re that interested in anyone’s life but our own? Is this why so called “reality” shows are so popular among main stream Americans? I guess that would explain my vehement dislike for such shows… I have a life that I’m actually living.

Between social media, reality TV, and a news media that provides anything but unbiased reporting of what happened during the day, we are dumbing down, tuning out and becoming oblivious to many matters that we really should be paying attention to.

If you really want a good “Reality Show” try reading a Biography, or the history of Rome. Now there’s a story!

And thinking of Rome… I swear, it feels more and more like we’re being distracted from something. Ever heard of a Roman Circus? 

The questions are… What? Why? and Who?

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Just when did I sign on at an Indian Job placement firm?

IWorklogo just got a call out of the blue from a job placement company.

The guy calling was obviously Indian. His accent was so thick that I could barely understand him.

He sent me an email while we were speaking on the phone. That gave me and Identification of the company, this guy worked for. As I explored their website I found that in addition to a supposed office in IL their main office were actually in Bhusari Colony,
Kothrud, Pune 411038 India.

So that’s all fine except that this guy tells me he wants me to respond to his email in the next 15 minutes. Say what?? Hello, I’m actually filling out another application right at the moment.  I told this guy that, then he starts pressuring me to apply for a job in San Jose, for 80k max and he has no idea what the hell the job is. All he can tell me is that it’s something to do with embedded systems That could be anything from a Jet Engine control module to an implantable medical device.

His email has a ONE LINE job description and the only information is a requirement for HP Quality Center which is a test tool HP purchased from Mercury Interactive.

What the fuck?

So this moron wants me to apply, in the blind for a position that I have no data on, and he wants me to do this in the next 15 minutes…

I told him that the application I was working on would be finished first, then I’d send him the information he wanted. He asked how long that would be… I told him he’d have it by tomorrow morning. 

You know I want a job, but I can’t waste time with people that don’t do their jobs. Especially when I’ve got a real job application that I’m working on.

——– UPDATE ——–

Ok maybe I’m a bit too sensitive.

I get another email this morning from this Manoj guy. This time he’s wanting me to sign a document that says, and I’m paraphrasing here;

“I promise under threat of litigation, that I will not apply for or allow anyone else to submit me for a position with GE or any of their subsidiaries or partners for the next 45 days.”

I have some problems with this.

1) GE has it’s fingers in companies all over the world. Technically that makes all of those companies subsidiaries or partners, completely off limits. How would I keep track?

2) The document also specifically mentions a Wisconsin job opportunity NOT a San Jose position that we discussed yesterday.

3) Until yesterday I never heard of the agency this guy works for.

4) Based on his comportment, his inability to speak English clearly, and the way he represented his company… I DON’T want him representing ME.

I was polite, I sent an email saying that I couldn’t in good conscience sign this exclusivity agreement because I had no capacity to control what other headhunters may or may not do and bade him farewell.

I hop in the shower, when I’m put together for the day, I check my email again. There’s another email from him. This one is the same email as yesterday with ONE difference. It’s for a position in WI.

Yesterday:

I have a fulltime position at San Jose CA which is an HP QC and embedded requirement.

In case you are interested please call me back asap.

Today:

I have a fulltime position at Milwaukee WI  which is an HP QC and embedded requirement.

In case you are interested please call me back asap.

The rest of the email is a list of questions… all of which are answered in my resume, and oh… They’re also answered on the job search board that he got my contact information from. Mind you he’s asking for all this information but nowhere does he ask for a resume, or salary history

Name: 
Availability:      
Current Location:

 Please let me know if you wish to consider him!

Contact No.:       

Email ID:   

Work Status:        
 

Employer Details
Full Name: 
Company Name:

Phone No: 
Email ID:

 

Reference 1
 
Name: 
Designation:
Company:
Phone No:
Email ID:
 
Reference 2
 
Name:
Designation:
Company:
 Phone No:
Email ID:

I preserved the formatting of his email. If you look carefully, you’ll see that after this information has been filled out… It looks like he just cuts and pastes it, including the line ” Please let me know if you wish to consider him!” into an outbound email to his supposed client. I wonder if Manoj remembers to change the pronoun… I doubt it.

I’ve come to the conclusion that this guy in fact doesn’t have a client. He’s just spamming corporations with names and resumes hoping that someone will be interesting enough that he can get his 10% to 20% cut of their salary.

I’ve no sooner looked at the email than my phone is ringing. Yep it’s this idiot… I decline to answer.

I thought about writing a nice email to him explaining that I wasn’t interested in he or his company representing me. But I thought the effort would be a wasted one.

One of the advantages of owning your own domain names is that you have the ability to really control what’s going on through those domains.

Believing that Manoj wouldn’t get the hint, (I may be one of the few people he’s spoken to for more than 5 minutes) I created a filter on my domain that will reject all messages from his corporate domain, returning an error message “YOU HAVE BEEN BLOCKED BY THIS USER”

Maybe he’ll get the message then.

If you’re looking for a job, be careful in your search.

There are people like Manoj who through their puerile efforts simply blow your chances of even being considered, and then there are others who actually use the information that you provide about your work history and other personal information to construct false identities or steal yours. 

Remember, there are always predators. This is  especially true in tough economic times.

 

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Paraprosdokian Of the Week

A Friend sent me a list of these. I thought it would be fun to share them

Paraprosdokians are phrases or sentences that lead us down the garden path to an unexpected ending.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism.  To steal from many is research.