Patrick’s Rants

You can’t see me

The shirt was camouflage

This was supposed to be a comedy, at least that’s what I got from the commercials. It turns out that You, Me and Dupree is more than just a funny movie. It has a well written script that brings together the comedy that Owen Wilson is famous for with a truly heart tugging story of newlyweds, Carl and Molly Peterson. Carl struggles with his new father-in-law and begins to suspect his down and out best friend, Randy Dupree, of having an affair with his wife. Dupree, of course is not, and in the end Carl and Molly pull themselves together and Dupree ends up with a new career which only hints at itself during the movie.

A troop surge, but hardly anything else. 20,000 more troops in Iraq. That makes it what, like 140,000? I’m reading “Blood Money” right now and the recommendation in the book was 500,000 to maintain the peace on the ground. We obviously fell far short of that number, continue to fall short and will end up “losing” in Iraq. Bush is extremely arrogent and has chosen not to follow all of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.

It is the unanimous view of the Iraq Study Group that these recommendations offer a new way forward for the United
States in Iraq and the region. They are comprehensive and
need to be implemented in a coordinated fashion. They should
not be separated or carried out in isolation. ¹

Bush continues to try to blaze his own path, no matter what anyone else says or recommends. It’s a good thing our mission was accomplished so long ago or we would really be in trouble today.

1. Iraq Study Group Report

This spider was hanging around our back door until it decided to come inside, at which point it was “relocated”. We haven’t seen it since.

I was going to add a new category, “Asshole Drivers” but after seeing this website, http://www.youparklikeanasshole.com/ I guess that I won’t need to.

Part Big Brother, part comic book character, “V For Vendetta” is the story of resistance to government oppression. In a (not too distant) future London, our hero/villian known only as “V” uses terroristic methods to fight facism. V is based upon graphic novels from the 1980s brought to the big screen although it isn’t hard to see a parallel to the current world. Just as we were reminded why we needed to “re-elect” George and the Republicans, the Prime Minister wants to make sure his citizens remember why they needthe government. It is the government that instills fear into its citizens against outsiders who eventually succumb to the insiders.

V manages to “incite” passive protest within the citizenry who have become increasingly distrustful of the government and its reports that continue to spew forth as “news”. Whereas 1984 was mostly about one man who is eventually broken down into a shell of his former self, V is about an entire country finally fed up with the lies and oppression of their self-centered government. Where one man is easily broken down an entire country can rise up. One man may not be able to make the change, it still starts with one man. It is in his ability to inspire others to follow that the difference is made.

I don’t normally take pot shots at former employers, but this this time I have to comment on a possibly misleading advertising campaign. The company that uses a big green block as their logo (no not the one that rotates the colored block)

This is a company that really can’t seem decide what it wants to be portrayed and tries “rebranding” itself over and over. The company? H&R Block. They used to be “The Income Tax People”. Simple, to the point - and most importantly - understandable. This year their tagline is “You’ve got people.”

I’ll set it up for you. Commercial 1) Man standing in his driveway talking to the postman. He says that he finally got his W-2 in the mail so he can get his taxes done. He then asks the postman if he has his W-2 mailed to him or if he can just pick up his W-2 at the Post Office. The postman replies that he doesn’t need his W-2 because, “I’ve got people”¹. Now, I’m an Enrolled Agent (hey just ’cause I don’t spend a ton of time doing taxes… ;)) and here’s where the commercial breaks down. First, the commercial isn’t completely clear - yeah they have the disclosure that you really receive an advance that they call Instant Money Advance (think payday loan) in the fine print, but people really don’t pay that much attention to the fine print at the bottom of commercials. Yes, you really do need your W-2 to file your income tax return, final paystubs aren’t adequate until mid to late Feburary. So an advance means multiple trips to your “people”.

Commercial 2) Man working on his taxes and his wife walks in saying they got an Audit Letter. She sarcastically says, “what do the people who did our return say? Oh that’s right, we used a box. What does the box say?” She holds the box up to her ear as if listening for something in the box. He asks what the box says. “Nothing, it’s just a box.” Implying that the audit assistance provided by H&R Block² is more than what it really is and that other “people” don’t provide similar services.

1. “You’ve got people”, or “I’ve got people”, sounds sleazy at best. Kinda like Tony Soprano, “I know a guy”, or “I got some people could take care a ‘dat ‘problem’ for you.”
2. H&R Block “audit assistance” is limited to sending someone with you to tell the IRS how your return was prepared. Not neccessarily to speak on your behalf or defend you.

It has been confirmed through completely independent and unrelated “experiments”. Dads somehow can’t get their daughters to match… or comb their hair… but our daughters love us anyway

Think
It’s not Illegal Yet

Ironically enough on a church sign.