The Mid-Atlantic was hit by quite the winter storm this past weekend. I am one of the residents of the area that got to tighten up my shoveling skills while engaging in an exercise of futility. I also happen to be one of the residents who chose better sense and stayed off the roads for the weekend, even though I have four wheel drive on my Bronco. The lure of Super Saturday Savings were not enough to make me risk life and limb to get that tea kettle that was half off for my grandmother. To me, this train of thought is purely logic at work.

At least 4,000 people, who were in accidents or called the police because they were stranded on the side of the road, did not have the same thought process. 4,000…and that is just the number of people who called 911. Who knows how many skidded off road and called a friend, or walked away hoping they’d be able to get a tow company to take care of it for them.

I’ve lived in the Mid-Atlantic for quite some time. Have we not figured out (1) how to drive in precipitation, and (2) when it’s ill-advised to drive in precipitation? Counties should not have to declare a State of Emergency to convey the severity of conditions because too many are acting with no regard for the public’s safety, much less their own.

There is two feet of snow. The Winter Storm Warning turned into a Blizzard Warning. It is the weekend. Everything is more or less closed. Hmmm, maybe I should not further clutter the roads or hamper clean up efforts. If nothing else, use this unexpected snowfall as an excuse to drink hot chocolate, eat cookies, and have a PS3 marathon for the weekend.

I actually had a neighbor almost hit my truck, not once, but twice. He did not have four wheel drive and spent a good 20 minutes getting out of his parking space and around the cul-de-sac. He was sliding on the ice and snow, narrowly missing my truck as he passed my home. He hit the main road, found it was not sufficiently plowed, and backed up the half mile or so that my street is, in reverse, almost hitting my truck….again. I asked him where he has intended to go (in a nice neighborly manner of course). His response: the mall. What good is a new power saw from Sears if it ends up mangled in a car wreck?

The clean up continues, the schools have been closed all week giving the children a two week winter break they are in love with, I have to buy some more Swiss Miss, and I’ve made it through my first franchise season in Madden 2010. It’s been a productive week!

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Can anyone explain to me why lobbying is legal? Aren’t public officials elected to vote in a manner that is in line with the values of their constituents? So it really shouldn’t matter who is lobbying for what, that politician is there to represent the fine people who got him or her into office.

Pharmaceutical companies have their lobbyists in full swing this week over a possible bill allowing prescription medicines to be imported from countries that are cheaper (a.k.a. countries who price prescriptions closer to the actual cost of manufacturing the drugs). Pharmaceutical companies were all behind Obama and his healthcare reform. “More Americans will have health insurance and be able to get prescription drugs? Hot Damn!” Now, these companies are concerned, and rightfully so, that they are going to be under-sold by Canadian, Japanese, and other importers.

The pharmaceutical industry thinks they are slick, or thinks we are stupid. They are presenting that they are just being advocates of quality control. They wouldn’t want any contaminated medications in this country. Well, Schering-Plough, I don’t either. That is why there are agencies in place to monitor food and other imported goods. I’m sure the FDA will do the same for foreign drugs.

I really don’t feel any sympathy for our domestic drug makers. I take Asthma medication every day. I have gone more months without my medicine than I care to count. My prescription costs $170 a month at my local pharmacy. In Canada, it is only $70. Even if it was marked up to $120 after its import and stocking costs, I still save $50. There is something terribly wrong with that picture.

Here’s an additional problem, I don’t have the pockets or connections to whisper in the right person’s ear to make sure I can afford my medication in the future. Referring back to my original question, why do I need a lobbyist to battle the lobbyists swaying the vote of the elected official I helped put in office?

Gotta love Democracy.

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The Supreme Court is taking on a case regarding an employee and his privacy when texting on a company pager.  Of course it is being sensationalized as many of the 450 texts were of a sexual nature.  Looking at it objectively, the police department the said employee worked for had every right to monitor the text messages.  It is a WORK pager.  Regardless of the content of the messages, the pager was misused for personal reasons, seems absurd to be resting in the Supreme Court.

All of my jobs over the last decade or two have had computers.  Many of the provisions regarding use of company property, privacy, and the intellectual rights are written into those employee handbooks no one reads, but new hires sign the page agreeing to abide by the regulations anyway.

Computers, cell phones, pagers, company cars…they are all considerable assets an employee is entrusted to handle to more efficiently perform their duties.  Their duties that benefit the outfit they work for without incurring any more personal cost.  Not their duty to rock that booty.  Perhaps this employee should have managed his money better to afford his cyber text sexing on his own pager.

Does anyone else feel that if you have a government job you get specialized human resource guidelines?  He happens to work for the police department, so it’s being carried up to the Supreme Court.   If it was you or I, we would just be embarrassed and/or jobless.

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This new American Entitlement Ethic is astounding.  Too many large corporations, and even private citizens, want help, money, and services without any additional cost or obligation.  If a bad decision is made, won’t someone come riding in on a horse and a saddle bag full of cash to solve the problem and fix the mistake?

Citigroup just paid back $20 Billion they received in the bailout to escape the tight restrictions the government had.  Several  other bailout recipients have already done the same.  These companies ask for extraordinary amounts of money, then get upset that  the government body handing this money over wants to make sure it is used to restore the company rather than to keep filling  executive expense accounts.  They are upset that the government would want stock shares, or any other benefit to make such a risk  worth while.  Isn’t that the business that Citigroup, Bank of America and other financial institutions are in?  They lend money,  even in high risk situations, having the benefit of helping the individual while building in clauses and penalties to benefit themselves.

If a friend came to me and needed $10,000 to save their home, and I could arrange my personal affairs to provide it, I would  absolutely do it.   I know it will take a while to pay back; we would outline a repayment plan over time to make sure they could stay afloat.  Now, I would also be holding a title to someone’s car, and letting them know if I see them in some expensive gear or a new car before I get paid back, there is going to be a serious issue.   If I can extend myself to help someone I will, but I deserve to know where the money went and where the money is coming from to pay back the debt.

Since when did being accountable become a bad thing?  Especially when you asked a HUGE favor of someone or, in Citigroup’s case, an entire country.  That bailout money was my money, your money, our children’s money.   I personally want to make sure I didn’t pay for a quarter million dollar bonus for one person, who must have done a great job the past two years since their company was going under.

A few years ago the Baltimore City School System was missing $42 Million.  They asked Mayor O’Malley for financial assistance, who in turned asked Governor Erlich for the money.  The Governor was willing to fill that deficit in the City’s educational budget, but under the condition that one of his people would be involved in the accounting for the Baltimore City School System.  For some reason that just outraged Mayor O’Malley and suddenly he didn’t need that $42 Million from Erlich anymore.  Instead, Mayor O’Malley pulled it out of the City’s “Rainy Day Fund”.  The school system “lost” $42 Million, you don’t want to put the money up yourself, yet you expect the Governor to just hand over money to benefit your city without any provisions to ensure the school system is safe and the money will not again be misappropriated.  Astonishing.

I am not a supporter of the government having their hands in everyone’s business.  I often feel they involve themselves too much, however, they have every right and obligation to keep on top of the corporations who take billions of our tax dollars to do damage control because of their poor decisions.

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