Let us give thanks to the power grid....

This ad reminds me of those Educational Videos put out by Encyclopedia Brittanica or Centron back in the 1950s which were supposed to remind kids that Freedom isn't FreeTM and that all the wonderful things that make life in the lily-white suburbs worth living- cars, parks, schools for white people, and prefab housing for white people- not to mention cheap fruits and vegetables for white people harvested by brown people- come to us courtesy of American Capitalism, which is God-Given but must be defended with prayers, hard work, and the Military Industrial Complex.

Sure, when you flip that switch, you just "take for granted" that because you paid your electric bill, the lights will come on.  But being a spoiled rotten We Americans Have No Idea How Much Blood, Sweat and Tears Went Into Providing This Service culture, we need two minutes of "this is why you should shut up about the negatives attached to oil, natural gas and nuclear power because hey do you want power or not?"

Turns out that for me to have the power to run my laptop so I can post this blog, thousands upon thousands of people had to sacrifice millions of hours to build thousands of miles of pipelines and wiring and dozens of nuclear power plants, I had no idea and I feel so immensely selfish and will never again complain when there's a spill or meltdown and I'm sure as hell not going to ask where the waste goes EVER, because after all it's my fault it even exists because I turned on my laptop and I TAKE IT FOR GRANTED that power will be there.

While I'm at it, I sure as HELL am not going to ever grouse about my electric bill again, when you consider the army of people who toiled for decades to create the grid which even made the Miracle of Electrical Power possible, I should be thankful it's not a thousand times higher, and I should be AMAZED that despite the obvious superiority of the American Energy System (direct from Canada, but shut up) virtual saints are (unbelievably) working to make it EVEN BETTER OMIGOD WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS I'M NOT WORTHY!

Personally, I'd be proud to have a nuclear waste dump in my backyard.  Or fire coming out of my faucet.  I'd think I was doing at least SOMETHING to contribute to this Miracle of Endless Practically Free Energy All The Time and not just being a selfish ungrateful maggot like those hippies with their Commie solar panels and wind farms (I bet they are all atheists, too.)  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to flip my lights on and off while singing "God Bless America."  Oh, and thanks to you too, Canada.  I guess.

Verizon, please tell me why I bother....

...wearing a day-glo green backpack, or looking both ways before I cross the street, or working hard to make eye contact with drivers before attempting to cross the street, or always walking defensively, assuming that the people operating motor vehicles these days have their eyes on everything BUT what is right in front of them....

...when you are just going to keep coming out with products designed to encourage those motor vehicle operators to completely zone out concerning everything going on in the real world all around them and just be on Facebook or obsessively checking their email instead of making sure that they aren't slamming into someone who is just trying to get from Point A to Point B without being smushed from a completely distracted asshat who is supposed to be OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE AND NOT F--NG AROUND WITH THE INTERNET????

BTW, I just love how no part of this ad actually shows anyone using the WiFi capabilities being offered- probably because Verizon couldn't figure out a way to do it without showing people breaking the f--ing law, which they are totally being encouraged to do with this kind of technology.  I'm doomed.

Real Rubes, Ruining my summer by "starring" in Chevy Commercials

Just do a quick survey of YouTube comments and you'll see that Chevrolet's "Real People, Not Actors" series is among the most loathed in the history of commercial buffoonery.  Chevy's response, clearly, is to just ramp up the jaw-dropping dumb by putting the pathetic mouth-breathing "I'll say or do anything for a few seconds of facetime on tv" Real Idiots into increasingly absurd, forehead-slapping situations.

Check out this latest chunk of stupid, accredited to Valley Motors or something which I guess is just one of the 3500 or so local Chevy dealers in the United States where you can see one of these dull crapmobiles for yourself.  One of the Real Shameless Not Actors squeals with delight because she's test driving a Chevrolet on a racetrack, something she'll never be able to do once she buys the car but figures that won't matter because taking Brady to soccer practice will feel just like being on the Nascar circuit.  Another refugee from a nearby Trump rally gives us the obligatory "WOOOO!" as he uses a Totally Unnecessary But Satisfyingly Compensating pickup to- umm, climb some obstacle, for some reason. Never mind that he'll be using that $40,000 toy to haul garbage and couches and groceries over speed bumps and will never, ever encounter anything like this obstacle in real life.  As for the guy who wants to "head to the Chevy dealership as soon as he gets home," well, more power to you, buddy.  I don't even care that you're blatantly brown-nosing Chevrolet to get yourself on tv because when you've sunk as low as this, what difference would my dissaproval matter to you, you pathetic nothingburger?

The really bad news is that there's absolutely nothing different about these ads except for the word "Summer."  These look exactly like the ads we saw all last fall during the baseball playoffs and then during the NFL season.  And there are always Chevy sales events going on- always.  Just like there are always people ready to chirp valentines to Chevy in exchange for 2 seconds of "hey look at me I'm on tv" validation.  Man are you people sad!

SimpliSafe: 'Cause you gotta cut corners somewhere....

So the fiftysomething husband and father in this ad looks at his thirtysomething trophy wife and the kids she dutifully popped out for him as her end of the bargain and says "look, honey, I work pretty damned hard for this multimillion dollar home with it's massive kitchen and modern appliances and even bigger living room.  And I know you think that I'm a bottomless well of cash, mainly because that's what I told you when I convinced you to surrender your youth to me in exchange for a life of security.

"Fact is, these mortgage and Lexus SUV payments are taking a pretty big bite out of that hedge fund money- I'd explain to you what 'hedge funds' are and how they support this lifestyle, but if you were interested in clogging your pretty little head with stuff like that I would never have married you- and the kids' endless parade of extracurricular activities don't help much either.  Not to mention the big-screen TVs and internet access you kind of insisted on so you don't go absolutely insane in this house while the kids are away and Juanita (whom I am NOT sleeping with, yet) is doing the shopping and cleaning.  And let's not forget Juanita, who is fifteen years younger than you are and has the kind of body you had when we first met, just sayin'.

"So we're going to have to economize somewhere.  And since I have hefty life insurance policies on you and the kids, and I'm home maybe eight hours a week anyway, it's going to be in home security.  That's why I'm going to protect your guilded cage with a bargain-basement do-it-yourself saw-it-on-late-night-tv so-called alarm system.  It will keep you and the kids- and Juanita, if she's not helping me in the office that night- super safe, I assure you.  Now how about another beer, hon?"

Trumpy Bear? Come on!

In 1991 I bought a Dan Quayle watch, but they weren't being sold to "honor" Dan Quayle.  This has got to be brilliant snark, right?  Right?

I mean, it uses every cliche from every Collector Plate/Prayer Coin/Authentic Replica WWII Watch commercial ever, right down to the ancient codger telling us that he is "proud to own this bear, and proud to be an American."  Heck, it might even be the SAME vet who told us that he was proud to own the Not-Actually-WWII-era aviator-style watch and was "proud to be an American."

I mean, I know this is an incredibly stupid country populated by mouth-breathers (look how 46 percent of us voted last time around) but this can't be real, can it?  Or if it is, and someone will actually answer that phone number and there's a factory in It's Pronounced JINA making these things, this concept was put together by someone with a PhD in Cynicism?

This can't be the brainchild of someone who actually LIKES Trump, can it?

My guess is that Barack Obama, having been born in Hawaii, is ALSO unable to stream Amazon Prime....

Never mind the video; I didn't bother to watch it and it really has absolutely nothing to do with what I hope you all consider an hysterically forehead-slapping blog post.  I just wanted to include a clip from my friends at Amazon Prime, all of whom deserve this snark more than most of the people I blog about....

Ok, here's the setup: I have Amazon Prime, which means I have access to Amazon Prime Video.  I'm in Vermont, which I THOUGHT had been part of the United States since 1791 (not trying to be pedantic, there's a payoff coming up, I promise) on summer vacation and I thought I'd just play a video to pass the time.

The video started, only to be interrupted seconds later by a message:  "Access to this Video is Prohibited due to Geographical Licensing Restrictions."  I tried another video, and got the same message.  Then another.  And then one more.

Then I wrote to Amazon for an explanation.  And hilarity ensued.  Here's their response, copied and pasted from my email.  I haven't changed a single word.  I am not kidding:

Hello John, I understand that you're facing issues accessing "Amazon Prime Videos" in Vermont. I'm sorry for any inconvenience you had to experience because of this. Kindly understand, currently Amazon Instant Video content can only be purchased, streamed, and downloaded by customers in the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, if you've subscribed for Prime from Amazon.com. I realize that it is disappointing to know about this, but please understand that due to content licensing restrictions and other restrictions placed by the content owners, we are unable to offer the Instant Video content to the customers outside U.S. I realize how convenient it would be for all our customers if the feature of providing access to Prime Videos outside U.S. is implemented and I've taken your comments as feedback and forwarded it to our Instant Video team for consideration as we make future improvements. Please be assured that we're collating feedback's from our customers and forwarding them to our Instant Video team, so that we can show them increasing demand for making this feature available for customers. As an alternative, I would like to bring to your kind notice that, selected Amazon titles are the only Prime content able to be streamed and downloaded outside the U.S. and its territories. To find other titles that are available, please use the following link: www.amazon.com/watchabroad Again, I can completely understand how frustrating and annoying the situation can be when something like this happens but believe us it was never our intention. Please accept my sincere apologies for this. I hope this helps. Your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated in this matter. Thank you for your continued support and understanding as a Loyal Amazon customer. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today.

Best regards, Sira Amazon.com So there you are, folks.  Vermont is not part of the U.S. and it's territories.  It's some weird foreign entity, and Amazon Prime is simply not available outside of the U.S. and it's territories, so I'm totally out of luck. You just can't make this crap up.  I think Lilly from the Grammarly commercials must have typed this letter. Just brilliant, Amazon!  Now if you'll excuse me, I have to check the www.Amazon.com/watchabroad site to see what movies I am allowed to stream during my stay in this exotic, obviously foreign locale. All I can hope is that someday Vermont's application for statehood is approved.   Bizarre.

My story can be summed up in one word: Freedom.

In 2015 my place of work switched to Evergreen Health, and I had to find a new primary care physician for the first time in more than 25 years.  I went to Evergreen's "very helpful" website, where I found a long list of general practitioners who, as far as Evergreen was concerned, accepted Evergreen Insurance at the present, or once upon a time, or maybe in the future.  In any case, I spent some hours over the course of some days failing to secure the services of a general practitioner.  For about a year.

During this time- the winter of 2016-2017- I was so constantly sick that I finally gave up and went to a CVS Minute Clinic for treatment.  First, I checked the CVS website to make sure the Minute Clinic accepted Evergreen Health.  They did.  Then I called Evergreen Health to make sure they would pay for the Minute Clinic.  The nice lady on the other end of the line said "yes, CVS takes the insurance," which isn't what I was asking but was as close as I was going to get to an actual answer.  So I went to the MinuteClinic and got a prescription for what was basically Claritin.  A month later, I got a bill for $140- $160 minus the $20 Evergreen paid for.  I wonder, if Evergreen had paid fifty cents of the $160 visit cost, would they have said "yes, CVS takes the insurance?"

Anyway, for two years I tried and failed to find a general practioner through Evergreen Health's not-at-all-helpful website, and every time I called to talk to a real person I was urged to use one of Evergreen Health's Primary Care Offices, conveniently located nowhere near any metrorail stations (and only one located on a bus line.)  This spring I gave in and made an appointment at the only clinic I could get to by bumming a ride with a friend and taking half a day off from school.

The visit went well- I got a complete physical and everyone was very nice.  Yay, contact with a doctor again!  Kind of the reason we have health insurance to begin with!

Last month, I got an email from Evergreen Health- the company "regrets to inform me" that it is closing down it's primary care offices- all of them- this summer.  I was given 60 days to pick up a copy of my health record (which I could obtain if I gave the office three days notice.)  I was also given the advice to use Evergreen Health's web site to find a new primary care physician.

I'm sure this is Obama's FaultTM, but whoever is to blame, I'm about to start my third year of paying premiums but not actually having a primary health physician except for that one day this spring.  Thanks, Evergreen Maryland, for playing your part in making the American Health Care System the very best in the whole world!  I'm sure that a good percentage of those Canadians fleeing their own awful Socialized Medicine to seek Good Medical Care use doctors who take your insurance.  I just wish they'd drop me a line and let me know who those doctors are.  I could return the favor by warning them not to try to use one of your Primary Care Offices, since they don't exist anymore.