SFC Toby Nunn: The Shelbystani’s were a nation of stupid people that aggravated me beyond belief. I was always in a state of disbelief about the things I was hearing. The leadership was drunk on stupid juice all the time. But I have now entered a new place. I am currently in the capital of POGistan. Also know as AJ in Kuwait. I was selected to come…
We’ve all seen the signs stating that a business reserves the right to do things that it really has no right to do. One of those faux rights is to examine our packages after we’ve paid for our purchases and headed out the door. Rather than hire security to actually stop shoplifters corporations go cheap and think they can just stomp on our real rights.
This was the headline that appeared this morning on Boing Boing:
Papers Please: Arrested at Circuit City for refusing to show ID, receipt.
From Michael Rigi:
Next to the grocery store was a Circuit City. (The Brooklyn, Ohio Circuit City to be exact.) Having forgotten that it was my sister”s birthday I decided to run in and buy her a last minute gift. I settled on Disney”s “Cars” game for the Nintendo Wii. I also needed to purchase a Power Squid surge protector which I paid for separately with my business credit card. As I headed towards the exit doors I passed a gentleman whose name I would later learn is Santura. As I began to walk towards the doors Santura said, “Sir, I need to examine your receipt.” I responded by continuing to walk past him while saying, “No thank you.”
As I walked through the double doors I heard Santura yelling for his manager behind me. My father and the family had the Buick pulled up waiting for me outside the doors to Circuit City. I opened the door and got into the back seat while Santura and his manager, whose name I have since learned is Joe Atha, came running up to the vehicle. I closed the door and as my father was just about to pull away the manager, Joe, yelled for us to stop. Of course I knew what this was about, but I played dumb and pretended that I didn”t know what the problem was. I wanted to give Joe the chance to explain what all the fuss was for.
I reopened the door to talk with Joe and at this point Joe positioned his body between the open car door and myself. (I was still seated in the Buick.) Joe placed his left hand on the roof of the car and his right hand on the open car door. I asked Joe if there was a problem. The conversation went something like this:
Me: “Is there a problem?”
Joe: “I need to examine your bag and receipt before letting you leave this parking lot.”
Me: “I paid for the contents in this bag. Are you accusing me of stealing?”
Joe: “I”m not accusing you of anything, but I”m allowed by law to look through your bag when you leave.”
Me: “Which law states that? Name the law that gives you the right to examine my bag when I leave a Circuit City.”
Of course Joe wasn”t able to name the law that gives him, a U.S. citizen and Circuit City employee the right to examine anything that I, a U.S. citizen and Circuit City customer am carrying out of the store.
Here’s an idea for a bit of guerrilla theatre:
Go to your nearest Circuit City. Buy the least expensive item you can think of — preferably something that will fit in your hand — pay for it in cash, stick the receipt in your pocket, do the environmentally sane thing by telling the cashier you don’t need a bag and then:
Exercise your full Constitutional Right as a law-abiding citizen of the United States to walk out the door.
Let the fun being.
[Update — 1034, 3 September: do you wonder what John Gibson Mullan might say to the Howard family? I do.
From the Associated Press:
But in the light of day on Sunday, they were finally able to see the tracks of an all-terrain vehicle leading into the northwestern Arizona mine shaft, a 125-foot vertical drop concealed by brush and devoid of signs or barriers.
When the girls’ father yelled into the gaping hole, only one daughter answered.
Rescuers who rappelled to the bottom of the mine found 13-year-old Rikki Howard dead. Ten-year-old Casie Hicks had “major injuries” and was listed in critical condition at a Las Vegas hospital Sunday evening.]
My co-bloggers and I at The Writing On The Wal have written a great deal in the last couple of months about the ongoing dangers of products imported from China, but as the New York Times demonstrates this morning, President George Bush’s policies of sucking up to corporate interests here have put us in just as much, if not more, danger.
At the agency”s cramped laboratory, a lone employee is charged with testing suspected defective toys from across the nation. At the nearby headquarters, safety initiatives have been stalled or dropped after dozens of jobs were eliminated in budget cutbacks.
Other workers quit in frustration. The head of the poison prevention unit, for example, resigned when efforts to require inexpensive child-resistant caps on hair care products that had burned toddlers were delayed so industry costs could be weighed against the potential benefit to children.
“Buyer beware – that is all I have to say,” Suzanne Barone, the poison prevention expert, who left in 2005, said.
Corporations never have the best interests of their customers at heart. And when we allow the fox into the chicken coup, we ought not to be surprised by flying feathers.
…All we have
Is the musculature of words
To protect the notion.
From Adequate Love by Jerry Roscoe.
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from Sweeping Changes: A Practical Guide to Zen in Your Home by Gary Thorp.
A great pile of flowers or a room filled with teacups detracts from your ability to focus on one of them and to appreciate it. You begin to learn a great deal when you can bring your careful attention to one single object. p. 27
Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is The General”s Report.
CAPT Doug Traversa: Although I never wrote about him on The Sandbox, anyone who read my blog Afghanistan Without a Clue will remember my friend 1st Lt Dany Barcan, Romanian Army. Dany and I played soccer together many times, as well as poker on Saturday nights. He even posted on my blog occasionally. But one of Dany”s biggest contributions to life…
This morning I put my money where my mouth is and went to the Shaker Square farmers’ market to buy produce. One of the great things about this particular market is that it runs year round, moving indoors when the weather get cold. I spent about $20 and bought both short- (two-day) and long-term (five-day) supplies.
When I buy food like this it reinforces my intentions to cook better meals for myself.
This morning I bought:
Kale
Red potatoes
Green beans
Green peppers
Slicing tomatoes and
Peaches.
I’ll cook the kale and potatoes for dinner tonight.
The green beans will become Szechuan Green Beans tomorrow night.
The tomatoes and green peppers are going into a salad for lunches and a side dish for dinners.
The peaches are for between meal snacks. I had one this morning and it exploded in my mouth.
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
2008 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION SCHEDULE
7:00 p.m. Opening flag burning.
7:15 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance to the United Nations.
7:30 p.m. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
7:30 p.m. Non-religious prayer and worship: Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton.
8:00 p.m. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
8:05 p.m. Ceremonial tree hugging.
8:15 p.m. Gay Wedding: Barney Frank, presiding.
8:30 p.m. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
8:35 p.m. Free Saddam Rally: Cindy Sheehan, Susan Sarandon.
9:00 p.m. Keynote speech: “The Proper Etiquette for Surrender” French President Jacques Chirac.
9:15 p.m. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
9:20 p.m. Collection to benefit Osama Bin Laden Kidney Transplant Fund.
9:30 p.m. Unveiling of plan to free freedom fighters from Guantanamo Bay: Sean Penn.
9:40 p.m. Why I Hate the Military: A short talk by William Jefferson Clinton.
9:45 p.m. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
9:50 p.m. Dan Rather receives “The Truth In Broadcasting” award, presented by Michael Moore.
9:55 p.m. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
10:00 p.m. Presentation: “How George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld brought down the Trade Center”
10:30 p.m. Nomination of Hillary Clinton for President by Makmud Ahmadinejad.
11:00 p.m. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
11:05 p.m. Senator Obama nominated for Vice President.
11:15 p.m. “Our Troops are War Criminals”, presented by John Kerry.
11:30 p.m. Coronation of Mrs. Hillary Clinton.
12:00 p.m. Ted Kennedy proposes a toast.
12:05 p.m. Bill Clinton asks Ted Kennedy to drive Hillary home.
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from Sweeping Changes: A Practical Guide to Zen in Your Home by Gary Thorp.
Be wary of the container that is more ornate, complicated than its contents. p. 26
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is
Looking for vegetarian lunchbox ideas?
SGT Roy Batty: The truth is that I have been having a surprisingly hard time since getting to Germany, and the Army medical system seems woefully unprepared to help. I’ve been hearing all of these reports in the media about how the Army is on top of the PTSD problem and is starting all of these great new programs to help their returning soldiers. The reality is…
Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.
1132 Bookstores Not Obsolete, Just Repurposed for Social Media
Kyle Garchar, a senior at Hilliard Davidson High School in suburban Columbus, said he spent about 20 hours over three days plotting the trick, which was captured on video and posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube. He said he was inspired by a similar prank pulled by Yale students in 2004, when Harvard fans were duped into holding up cards with the same message.
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
THE TRAIN TICKET
Three women and three men are traveling by train to the Super Bowl.
At the station, the three men each buy a ticket and watch as the three women buy just one ticket. “How are the three of you going to travel on only one ticket?”asks one of the men.. “Watch and learn,” answers one of the women.
They all board the train. The three men take their respective seats but all three women cram into a toilet together and close the door. Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the toilet door and says, “Ticket, please” The door opens just a crack, and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand.
The conductor takes it and moves on.
The men see this happen and agree it was quite a clever idea; so, after the game, they decide to do the same thing on the return trip and save some money. When they get to the station they buy a single ticket for the return trip but see, to their astonishment, that the three women don’t buy any ticket at all!!
“How are you going to travel without a ticket?”says one perplexed man. “Watch and learn,” answer the women.
When they board the train, the three men cram themselves into a toilet, and the three women cram into another toilet just down the way.
Shortly after the train is on its way, one of the women leaves her toilet and walks over to the toilet in which the men are hiding. The woman knocks on their door and says, “Ticket, please.”
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