Exactly

This.

Well, this is embarrassing!

The Russians think we’re a bunch of stupid twits, who haven’t learned from history.

Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.

After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.

Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way.

The tinfoil hattery about the NWO aside, is Pravda wrong? When the Russians make fun of us for outcommunisting them, we seriously need to take a closer look at ourselves.

Romney, the GOP, and immigration

Those of you who know me know that I did not support Mitt Romney for President. This was largely because of the cheating that went on at the RNC in Tampa, which is all the more galling considering that Romney had the nomination well in hand; apparently his minions, like the odious Ben Ginsberg, felt the need to punish the grassroots so we have to kiss the ring of the establishment every time out in the future. Despite this, I voted straight GOP all the way down the ticket, and then returned to the Presidential ballot line, which I’d left blank for consideration. I TRIED to force myself to vote for Romney/Ryan… TRIED… but then I remembered how the establishment, “the adults in the room”, meaning K Street and the consulting and punditry class, were in the tank for Romney, Pawlenty, and Huntsman. We were told any other choice was tantamount to Zero’s re-election. We had nothing resembling a fair primary process; it was loaded in favor of the establishment candidates, particularly Romney. I then unhesitatingly filled in the circle next to Johnson/Gray and turned in my ballot. I’ve met Gary Johnson personally, a number of times, and he’s exactly the sort of guy we need more of in politics. I had no illusions he’d be elected (and have some disagreements with him on defense and immigration), but he was the best man for the job and the best candidate on the ballot.

That aside, I’ve found my opinion of Romney, the man, not to say the candidate or the campaign, improving since his defeat. Romney was right on the money with his comments about the “gifts” to minorities, young voters and other special interests and voter blocs that Obama gave out. As Ilana Mercer pointed out far more eloquently than I could hope to, the GOP establishment descended on Mitt immediately, talking of how he was wrong and insensitive, and that we must retreat on immigration, entitlements and a host of other issues and become more “diverse”. This is exactly wrong. We cannot compete with Democrat Claus. Even if we could, that would represent complete ideological surrender. People are mocking the photos of Romney pumping his own gas, but this was the guy we needed to see more of during the last two years.

The Republican party embracing “comprehensive” immigration reform will mean its defeat. The Roveian idea of Hispanics as natual conservatives is a pipedream, as Heather MacDonald, who did an extensive study for the Manhattan Institute on Hispanic voters, points out. To more directly rebut the establishment’s babble about immigration, here’s Mark Kirkorian.

We’re importing third world peasants who will vote for more government largesse and who will further Balkanize America. Build the fence wall, and enforce immigration laws, and encourage self-deportation, and end birthright citizenship. We simply can’t afford another course of action, either ideologically or fiscally. It’s just another example of why the “moderates”, the social conservative and the neocons all need to be driven from control of the Republican party.

A Deal Where No One Will Be Happy

In a blind sprint to avoid what many are calling a “fiscal cliff” I’m hearing rumbles that the douchebags in Washington are “weeks away from a deal.”

Both sides have struck cooperative tones since Obama’s re-election. Even so, he and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, the GOP’s pivotal bargainer, have spent most of the past two years in an acrid political climate in which both sides have fought stubbornly to protect their constituencies.

Translation: the Democrats are gloating about a mandate, and the clueless, feckless Republicans are trying to prove themselves inclusive “team players,” who are willing to sacrifice everything they stand for.

So the sides will agree on a deal where “the rich” will be just a bit more out upon, even though they already pay four times as much in federal taxes as the middle class. And these rich won’t be the multi billionaires who get much of their earnings from investment income that is taxed at a lower rate. These will be the “small” millionaires – ones who have probably scraped their way to that bracket, worked long hours, gone to school, and sacrificed a lot. And these will be those nasty, rich business owners who have sacrificed their entire lives. And they will be those damn doctors, who worked like hell in college and medical school, who slept two hours every two days in order to become experts in their field, to be able to save the lives of those who claim they’re entitled to not just dictate by government force how much the doctors should charge for their work, but also take more of their earnings. But hey, they have more to loot than the average guy, so why not. It’s not like they’ll miss it, right?

But I digress. I’m sure there will be some spending cut compromises, where the politicians will diligently ensure that the pork still flows to their districts – pork that funds superfluous defense projects the Pentagon doesn’t even want, and pork that funds tattoo removal, incentivizes adoption of rabid possum and builds infrastructure no one uses.

Don’t worry. Useless crap will survive. HUD, HHS, EPA, DOE and other worthless, bloodsucking bureaucracies will still exist. Entitlements for which the recipients paid X and will receive 3X during the span of their entitled lives will continue to suck away half of the federal budget. You will still get your goodies at the expense of the rest of us.

The military will still get its Chevy Volts (let’s hope they don’t catch fire while charging) – after all, GM needs sales, and they aren’t getting any the good ole fashioned way – by making a quality, reasonably priced product that people actually want to buy.

And we’ll still be in debt, which will likely continue to exceed 100 percent of our GDP through at least 2020.

But gosh! The politicians will have worked together to reach a consensus! By all means, elect them again, America! After all, they will have worked together to slow this country’s descent into economic mire. They deserve your vote yet again. They will have cobbled together a deal with which no one is happy, but they will have done so together, so it’s OK.

By all means, America, focus on bullshit issues such as whether or not your politicians agree with your social views, even though they haven’t and shouldn’t have anything to do with the federal government. Continue to harp on gay marriage, and other social issues. Pretty soon you’ll have nothing with which to purchase food for your family, except food stamps, because the leeches in Washington will have stolen your earnings and destroyed your will to achieve. But hey, you stood by your principles and voted for Dumbshit McHatethehomos because he’s for “traditional” marriage.

And by all means, continue voting for compromisers who will work together with the tax-and-spenders to slow the rate of government growth. Notice I didn’t say “reduce the size of government,” because that’s not even on their radar.

And in the end you’ll wind up with a deal where no one is happy, but in true communist fashion, you will know that it’s better to have everyone equally miserable than risk one group being happier than another.

How NOT to keep a customer

Here’s a basic economic principle: treat your customers with respect by offering good customer service and quality products, and they will return. I don’t think it’s a difficult concept. It’s smart business.

But it’s apparently a lesson Julian Bakery hasn’t yet learned.

I don’t eat grains. I don’t eat glutens. I keep my carb intake low, and get most of my carbs from fruits and vegetables. I don’t have celiac disease, but I have thyroid issues, and glutens and carbs exacerbate the problem. So imagine how thrilled I was to discover that Julian Bakery had gluten-free, grain-free, low-carb bread!

So I went to the site, and immediately ordered two loaves and some cookies!

That was on October 19. A few days later, I received an email that My order had been processed for shipping. I had hoped I would receive the bread prior to leaving for Latvia, but after tracking the package, it still hadn’t shipped.

I returned from Riga on November 2, and the products from Julian Bakery still had not showed up. On November 4th, I sent them the following email:

Hello – I received an email on October 25 that my order has been processed for shipping. To date, I have received nothing, and the UPS tracking simply states that a label has been created. I placed the order on October 19. I realize it can take a few days for an order to ship, but it is now November 4th, and the wait is getting a bit ridiculous. At this point I’m afraid the bread I ordered will arrive inedible! If you are unable to ship the product in a reasonable amount of time, please refund my money. Otherwise, I’d like to receive the products for which I paid.

On November 5th, I received the following reply:

We bake and ship orders fresh within 7 to 14 business days as was outlined when checking out and on your confirmation e-mail. We normally ship orders within 2 to 3 business days but due to an overwhelming demand we anticipate your order will ship this week.

Did it ship that week? I doubt it, because by the time Tuesday morning, November 13 rolled around, there was still no package from Julian.

By that point, I’d had it. I emailed Julian Bakery again when I got to work, and told them I was no longer interested in their product and simply wanted a refund.

Did I get a refund? No. Did I even get an acknowledgment that it took nearly a month to get a product that I ordered? No. Did I get an admission that there was a problem? No.

I merely got a cheerful email from their sales department, telling me that my order should arrive the next day.

Unbelievable. Not even an acknowledgment that anything was amiss.

The products did indeed arrive on Wednesday. They were good. I was happy. Made a sandwich on Wednesday and one on Thursday. Today is Friday. I opened the loaf to make a sandwich this afternoon, and the bread was completely covered in mold. TWO DAYS AFTER I HAD FINALLY RECEIVED IT!

Unbelievable!

So I went to their Facebook page and left a comment – a short version of what I am posting here. The comment is still there. I wonder how long it will take for them to remove it. We’ll see.

Crappy customer service, product that spoils within two days, and unacceptable delivery times. This is not a way to ensure repeat sales, and not a way to run a business.

I’ll survive without bread, or I’ll find something comparable. But I won’t be ordering from Julian Bakery again.

And you shouldn’t either.