It's been quite a day. I was sitting in a doctor's office this afternoon and while there I was listening to a couple 65+ gentlemen discuss the state of the world. I was, in the words of Gordan Ramsay, gobsmacked. Man #1 said if Obama was elected the country would sink so low that "we'll all be praying someone shoots him". Then they started on why there were so many natural disasters and why "all the polar ice has melted". Why, you ask? You guessed it...God. Specifically because he hates homosexuals. Really. Tornados blow through mobile home parks because of Anne and Eve or Adam and Steve. But wait...there's more! Easter, according to Man #2, is a pagan holiday. True Christians, said the butthead ignoramus, should be celebrating Passover to symbolize the covenant. Hold the phone. I'm not religious, but Passover is a Jewish holiday to remember and celebrate God's covenant with Moses and the Jews. It was around a couple of thousand years before Jesus was a twinkle is Mary's eye. The celebration of the pagan (!!!) Easter is (I can't make this stuff up) "an insult to Jesus". By this point my lip is actually bleeding from biting it in a Herculean effort to keep my big Libertarian mouth shut. How the fabulous flying fuck does this pantload know what insults Jesus? Did he a convo while the rest of us weren't looking? They sat there agreeing with each other as I fought the urge to blast them both with a high-caliber verbal barrage. Finally I was shown into the doctors office with a blood pressure about 497 over 245 (or so it felt) so I missed out on any more revelations.
I come home, and as is my custom I check the news, broadcasting and business headlines online along with the price of oil ($124.73 today, up $1.74). Of course the broadcast wires were humming with the FCC approval of the XM/Sirius merger DESPITE their licenses specifically stating they were not to merge. The FCC decided to waive its own rules and condemn millions of subscribers to the arrogance and hubris of a money-hemorrhaging colassus. As an XM subscriber for 5 or 6 years now, their "customer service" is truly atrocious (complete with offshore call centers) and have had so many billing errors I've lost track.
But that wasn't what caught my attention today. In one of the most egregious examples of doublespeak bullshit I've ever seen, GM announced today that they were reducing the warranty length of new Saabs. Why would they do this? "To better compete against competitors" (Who else would one compete against?) So said the AP story today which you can find at the end of this post. Seriously. It's not a typo. There's enough spin in the story to make you dizzy.
Did you ever read Orwell's 1984? When the chocolate ration was reduced the Party just changed the past so it looked as if the ration had increased?
I don't have an MBA, but even I know cutting back on a product makes you less competitive, not more. The worst part is the overpaid GM hack that wrote the release actually believes what it says...and thinks you will too. In a company that can't layoff workers or burn cash fast enough you'd think making cars less atractive to buyers would be wrong.
AP
GM reduces length of 2009 Saab warranty
Monday July 28, 5:34 pm ET
By Dan Strumpf, AP Business Writer
General Motors cuts length of US warranty on 2009 Saab models, says measure will cut costs
NEW YORK (AP) -- General Motors Corp.'s Saab unit is cutting the length of its warranty on its 2009 U.S. models to reduce costs while remaining competitive with other luxury brands, the company said Monday.
Saab will now offer a four-year powertrain warranty for up to 50,000 miles in place of the five-year, 100,000-mile warranty offered on other GM brands, Saab spokeswoman Joanne Krell said.
Krell said Saab will continue to offer free scheduled maintenance on its cars for three years or 36,000 miles.
"There's no other GM brand that does the three-year, 36,000-mile scheduled maintenance," she said. "That's a very nice offering that definitely makes sense for a premium import."
Krell declined to say how much money the warranty change will save the company, but she said lower costs and a more competitive edge over other importers were factors in the decision.
"One, we think it's a cost-effective way to go to market and, two, we think the four-year, 50,000 and the three-year, 36,000 are the kind that cover Saab customers well, competitive with the kinds of import brands that Saab competes against," Krell said.
Audi, BMW and Volvo offer four-year, 50,000-mile warranties on their vehicles.
GM has owned Saab since 2000, when the Detroit automaker purchased it from Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB.
GM started offering five-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranties on all 2007 model year passenger vehicles in an effort to help it sell more autos by boosting its reputation for quality. The automaker previously provided a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty.
The reduced warranty on Saab models is the latest in a string of cost-cutting measures at GM, as the company tries to navigate a downturn brought on by a weak economy, higher fuel prices and a shift in demand away from its traditionally popular trucks and sport utility vehicles.
GM also announced Monday that it will cut production by another 117,000 vehicles, bringing the automaker's total production cuts to just under the 300,000 units company officials had hoped to cut this year.
The new cuts include eliminating one shift each at its Moraine, Ohio, plant, where Saab 9-7x midsize SUVs are produced.
Shares of GM fell 90 cents, or 7.6 percent, to $11.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
And now for something completely different
Few people have fun at the supermarket. My last trip was the proverbial last straw and so I'm writing:
THE SUPERMARKET 10 COMMANDMENTS
1. Thou shalt not leave thy cart in the middle of the aisle.
2. Thou shalt allow others access to an item while you stand there for 20 minutes deciding what flavor of fucking toothpaste thy wanteth.
3. Thou shalt control thy bratty children. It's not a playground.
4. Thou shalt not get pissy about the thickness of deli meat. If it's "too thin" then thou shalt puteth on another slice and not bitch.
5. Verily, thou shalt know what thy wanteth when the deli clerk calleth upon you.
6. Thou shalt not whineth to an employee if something's out of stock. If it's not on the shelf there "ain't no mo". Goeth somewhere else to buyeth it.
7. Thou shalt putteth back unwanted items in thy proper place.
8. Free samples maketh not your lunch.
9. Thou shalt insureth all coupons are not expired and actually for products thy have boughteth.
10. Thou shalt not bitch aboout how thine groceries are bagged. If thy don't like it redoeth it thyself.
THE SUPERMARKET 10 COMMANDMENTS
1. Thou shalt not leave thy cart in the middle of the aisle.
2. Thou shalt allow others access to an item while you stand there for 20 minutes deciding what flavor of fucking toothpaste thy wanteth.
3. Thou shalt control thy bratty children. It's not a playground.
4. Thou shalt not get pissy about the thickness of deli meat. If it's "too thin" then thou shalt puteth on another slice and not bitch.
5. Verily, thou shalt know what thy wanteth when the deli clerk calleth upon you.
6. Thou shalt not whineth to an employee if something's out of stock. If it's not on the shelf there "ain't no mo". Goeth somewhere else to buyeth it.
7. Thou shalt putteth back unwanted items in thy proper place.
8. Free samples maketh not your lunch.
9. Thou shalt insureth all coupons are not expired and actually for products thy have boughteth.
10. Thou shalt not bitch aboout how thine groceries are bagged. If thy don't like it redoeth it thyself.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Do as I say...or maybe not.
One of the things I never liked about being a talk show host was some people always had their panties in a wad over something I said. Seems people have forgotten there's no Constitutional right to not be offended. If you don't like what I say, fine. Want to bitch about it? Fine. I recognize your right to free speech, but you conveniently forget mine.
Anyway, here we go again. It was bad enough that Imus was railroaded over the "ho" comments but this one is up there in the hypocrisy meter.
MIchael Savage is a very conservative national radio host. Recently he went off on a rant about autism. He said "You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is in 99% of cases. It's a brat who hasn't been told to cut his act out. That's what autism is". He also went on to call them idiots and morons.
Now, I'd expect no less from this verbal bomb-throwing hate-spewing dipshit, but the outcry has made the news wires. Here's where the hypocrisy comes in...one of the comments on myfoxny.com was this gem: "Nothing in his comments make any sense. He needs to get informed before he starts another ignorant, meaningless rant.”
Exactly. If it's truly meaningless then why the outrage over something that's "meaningless"? I'm starting to think some people live to offended by something so they can bitch, whine, and complain to their heart's content while holding the delusion they're actually doing something positive. Who would call the writer of that comment (the mother of an autistic boy) a crackpot? Me. She should look up the word meaningless in a dictionary, and realize it applies to Savage's comments...and hers as well.
Anyway, here we go again. It was bad enough that Imus was railroaded over the "ho" comments but this one is up there in the hypocrisy meter.
MIchael Savage is a very conservative national radio host. Recently he went off on a rant about autism. He said "You know what autism is? I'll tell you what autism is in 99% of cases. It's a brat who hasn't been told to cut his act out. That's what autism is". He also went on to call them idiots and morons.
Now, I'd expect no less from this verbal bomb-throwing hate-spewing dipshit, but the outcry has made the news wires. Here's where the hypocrisy comes in...one of the comments on myfoxny.com was this gem: "Nothing in his comments make any sense. He needs to get informed before he starts another ignorant, meaningless rant.”
Exactly. If it's truly meaningless then why the outrage over something that's "meaningless"? I'm starting to think some people live to offended by something so they can bitch, whine, and complain to their heart's content while holding the delusion they're actually doing something positive. Who would call the writer of that comment (the mother of an autistic boy) a crackpot? Me. She should look up the word meaningless in a dictionary, and realize it applies to Savage's comments...and hers as well.
For once, the good guys win.
Everyone remembers what "wardrobe malunction" means. Those of us in broadcasting saw an almost about-face when it came to what's acceptable to say on air due to the almost schizophrenic nature of the FCC's enforcement. What few people knew is the "obscenity" fines from that event were being appealed in court, and I say with great pleasure the 3rd circuit court of appeals finally slapped the FCC's peepee. Here is the news story courtesy of the Associated Press:
A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction."
The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity.
The 90 million people watching the Super Bowl, many of them children, heard Justin Timberlake sing, "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song," as he reached for Jackson's bustier.
The court found that the FCC deviated from its nearly 30-year practice of fining indecent broadcast programming only when it was so "pervasive as to amount to 'shock treatment' for the audience."
"Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing," the court said. "But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure."
The 3rd Circuit judges — Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell and Judge Julio M. Fuentes — also ruled that the FCC deviated from its long-held approach of applying identical standards to words and images when reviewing complaints of indecency.
"The Commission's determination that CBS's broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast was actionably indecent evidenced the agency's departure from its prior policy," the court found. "Its orders constituted the announcement of a policy change — that fleeting images would no longer be excluded from the scope of actionable indecency."
In a statement Monday, CBS said it hoped the decision "will lead the FCC to return to the policy of restrained indecency enforcement it followed for decades."
"This is an important win for the entire broadcasting industry because it recognizes that there are rare instances, particularly during live programming, when it may not be possible to block unfortunate fleeting material, despite best efforts," the network said.
Messages left for an FCC spokesman were not immediately returned.
Andrew Jay Schwartzman of the Media Access Project, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a group of TV writers, directors and producers, said the ruling "is an important advance for preserving creative freedom on the air."
"The court agreed with us: the FCC's inconsistent and unexplained departure from prior decisions leaves artists and journalists confused as to what is, and is not, permissible," Schwartzman said in a statement Monday.
The FCC had argued that Jackson's nudity, albeit fleeting, was graphic and explicit and CBS should have been forewarned. Jackson has said the decision to add a costume reveal — exposing her right breast, which had only a silver sunburst "shield" covering her nipple — came after the final rehearsal.
At the time, broadcasters did not employ a video delay for live events, a policy remedied within a week of the game.
In challenging the fine, CBS said that "fleeting, isolated or unintended" images should not automatically be considered indecent.
But the FCC said Jackson and Timberlake were employees of CBS and that the network should have to pay for their "willful" actions, given its lack of oversight.
The $550,000 fine represents the maximum $27,500 levied against each of the network's 20 owned-and-operated stations.
Shortly after the 2004 Super Bowl, the FCC changed its policy on fleeting indecency following an NBC broadcast of the Golden Globes awards show on which U2 lead singer Bono uttered an unscripted expletive. The FCC said at the time that the "F-word" in any context "inherently has a sexual connotation" and can trigger enforcement.
NBC challenged the decision, but that case has yet to be resolved.
In June 2007, a federal appeals court in New York invalidated the government's policy on fleeting profanities uttered over the airwaves. The case involved remarks by Cher and Nicole Richie on awards shows carried on Fox stations.
___
A federal appeals court on Monday threw out a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction."
The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Federal Communications Commission "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity.
The 90 million people watching the Super Bowl, many of them children, heard Justin Timberlake sing, "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song," as he reached for Jackson's bustier.
The court found that the FCC deviated from its nearly 30-year practice of fining indecent broadcast programming only when it was so "pervasive as to amount to 'shock treatment' for the audience."
"Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing," the court said. "But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure."
The 3rd Circuit judges — Chief Judge Anthony J. Scirica, Judge Marjorie O. Rendell and Judge Julio M. Fuentes — also ruled that the FCC deviated from its long-held approach of applying identical standards to words and images when reviewing complaints of indecency.
"The Commission's determination that CBS's broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast was actionably indecent evidenced the agency's departure from its prior policy," the court found. "Its orders constituted the announcement of a policy change — that fleeting images would no longer be excluded from the scope of actionable indecency."
In a statement Monday, CBS said it hoped the decision "will lead the FCC to return to the policy of restrained indecency enforcement it followed for decades."
"This is an important win for the entire broadcasting industry because it recognizes that there are rare instances, particularly during live programming, when it may not be possible to block unfortunate fleeting material, despite best efforts," the network said.
Messages left for an FCC spokesman were not immediately returned.
Andrew Jay Schwartzman of the Media Access Project, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a group of TV writers, directors and producers, said the ruling "is an important advance for preserving creative freedom on the air."
"The court agreed with us: the FCC's inconsistent and unexplained departure from prior decisions leaves artists and journalists confused as to what is, and is not, permissible," Schwartzman said in a statement Monday.
The FCC had argued that Jackson's nudity, albeit fleeting, was graphic and explicit and CBS should have been forewarned. Jackson has said the decision to add a costume reveal — exposing her right breast, which had only a silver sunburst "shield" covering her nipple — came after the final rehearsal.
At the time, broadcasters did not employ a video delay for live events, a policy remedied within a week of the game.
In challenging the fine, CBS said that "fleeting, isolated or unintended" images should not automatically be considered indecent.
But the FCC said Jackson and Timberlake were employees of CBS and that the network should have to pay for their "willful" actions, given its lack of oversight.
The $550,000 fine represents the maximum $27,500 levied against each of the network's 20 owned-and-operated stations.
Shortly after the 2004 Super Bowl, the FCC changed its policy on fleeting indecency following an NBC broadcast of the Golden Globes awards show on which U2 lead singer Bono uttered an unscripted expletive. The FCC said at the time that the "F-word" in any context "inherently has a sexual connotation" and can trigger enforcement.
NBC challenged the decision, but that case has yet to be resolved.
In June 2007, a federal appeals court in New York invalidated the government's policy on fleeting profanities uttered over the airwaves. The case involved remarks by Cher and Nicole Richie on awards shows carried on Fox stations.
___
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Where it's fun to find out
This is the Van deGraff generator at the Museum of Science in Boston.
Cool, huh? It's the biggest one in the world according to the people who do the electricity show at the Museum. But, you ask, what does this have to do with radio? Ahhh, grasshopper...be patient.
The first radio transmitters were "spark gap" transmitters. They used a spark jumping an air gap between 2 conductors as a way to transmit morse code. Only problem was the signals it put out were across literally thousands of different frequencies. If you want to hear what it sounded like, turn on an AM radio in a lightning storm...doesn't matter which station but the weaker the better. You'll hear it when the lightning flashes. As the show went on it came to me. The first radio signals were sent with a gizmo much like this one, and not only did it change the world forever but it sparked (pun intended) the dreams of thousands of people...including me.
Cool, huh? It's the biggest one in the world according to the people who do the electricity show at the Museum. But, you ask, what does this have to do with radio? Ahhh, grasshopper...be patient.
The first radio transmitters were "spark gap" transmitters. They used a spark jumping an air gap between 2 conductors as a way to transmit morse code. Only problem was the signals it put out were across literally thousands of different frequencies. If you want to hear what it sounded like, turn on an AM radio in a lightning storm...doesn't matter which station but the weaker the better. You'll hear it when the lightning flashes. As the show went on it came to me. The first radio signals were sent with a gizmo much like this one, and not only did it change the world forever but it sparked (pun intended) the dreams of thousands of people...including me.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The listener has a name!
The world welcomed a brand-new member yesteday and now she has a name. My brother Ross and his wife Tara have named their bundle of joy Piper Lily Grace. Not only is Piper a great name (I had a crush on a girl with that name in junior high) they picked it as a tribute to our father who was a licensed pipefitter (among a million other things he could do..and did). He'll always be missed, but whenever I hear the name Piper I'll be reminded of both him and my beautiful new niece. Not bad at all.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Another new Radio listener
Congrats to my brother Ross and his wife Tara on my new niece...or their new baby girl, who evidently is a player to be named later as I guess they haven't gotten around to it as I write this. I just hope it's not something like Strawberry Pomegranate or Dust Cloud. She was a bit early, clocking in at 4 lbs 6 oz and a thundering 18 inches. If she's anything like her parents the WNBA should pay her a visit.
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