Rented a car today for the drive from my home in Vermont to get back to my base of work in Allentown, PA. Got a pretty good deal. I pre-paid online and got a standard size 4dr for $125 one way, unlimited mileage. No drop fee. Other sites quoted around $140 for the rental (plus tax) and an avg of another $130 for drop fee! No thanks. I was set up for PU and DRP at 0900. (Sun & Mon).
When I PU the car, I was up-graded to a SUV for free. Looking at the bill, though, it showed an additional $97.18!
WTF? (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) It turns out that since I checked in early (0830) the system automatically billed me for an extra hour @ $81.00!!! I could have paid $107 and had the car for additional whole day! The agent told me that if I got the car turned in before 0830 Mon I could get the additional charge waived.
I'm still trying to figure out the math on this. Let's see......I can keep the car for an additional 24hrs for $107 (plus tax). That works out to a little less than $4.50/hr. BUT, if I'm just 30-60min late, it's $81, which works out to as much as $162/hr. Explain me this?
While I'm on the topic of outrageous, illogical car charges.......where to they get the gas that they refill the tanks with? The rental counter at pick up showed the average price per gallon locally ($4.03). You can choose to bring the car back with a full tank, paying whatever the cost is at the pump when you return, you can choose to "pre-pay" for a full tank at the time you pick up for a slight premium (you pay for a full tank, regardless of how much is left in the vehicle when you turn it in. Unless you're comfortable taking the risk of rolling in on fumes, you're paying a premium price for gas you'll never use), OR you can elect the "convenience" of signing up for their refill service. Just bring it in and they'll top it off and bill you for however much gas it takes. Now, such quality customer service doesn't come cheap. In fact, I think they have highly qualified, professional fuel management personnel in charge of the process. They must, since they felt compelled to charge the stimulating sum of............wait for it............$9.29 per gallon!
Figuring that most gas pumps run at an avg rate of about 3gal/minute that means the labor charge for the "convenience" of them pumping the gas for me would run about $105.20 per hour!! Damn, that's some good gas.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Where Have I Been?
I must've spent the last number of years living under a rock. I don't remember rallies and demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court building as being commonplace. Whatever happened to having a sense of decorum about things? Or even a rudimentary knowledge of how our government is set up?
The "Separation of Powers" doctrine enshrined in the Constitution was intended, at least in part, to protect the Judiciary from being influenced by the political winds of the day, or by the vagaries of public opinion.
These demonstrations by illegal aliens (undocumented workers) on the very steps of the Court is an obscenity that should never be allowed. What? Self-avowed criminals demanding "rights" on the very steps of the highest court in the land? Where's the law enforcement? These people have been led to believe that they have rights they do not. The rights, privileges, and obligations of citizens are reserved to legal citizens only.
The 1st Amendment protections for speech and assembly and to petition government for redress of grievances apply more properly to the Legislative and Executive branches of government. The institutions of Congress and the Office of the Presidency are directly representative of the electorate. As such, they have a duty and obligation to be responsive to the peoples' concerns, with-in the bounds of Constitutional limits. The Judiciary is different. Particularly at the level of the State Supreme Courts and certainly at the level of SCOTUS.
Just as the Executive and Legislative branches serve as checks and balances on the potential abuse of power by each, so too is the Judicial branch meant as a check and balance on them both. It is the primary duty of the Supreme Court to rein in the excesses of government in order to protect the citizens against encroachment on their individual rights by unconstitutional government power grabs.
It is crucial that Justices be immune to political and populist pressures. The Judiciary was set apart from the rest of government expressly for that purpose. Supreme Court justices are given lifetime appointments to insulate them from such pressures. These judges do NOT have any direct obligation to the populace. Their duty is to the country as a whole, through absolute fidelity to the law of the land: the Constitution of the United States of America. In light of this most solemn of legal obligations, our President's blatant attempt to influence court decisions is particularly troubling.
The "Separation of Powers" doctrine enshrined in the Constitution was intended, at least in part, to protect the Judiciary from being influenced by the political winds of the day, or by the vagaries of public opinion.
These demonstrations by illegal aliens (undocumented workers) on the very steps of the Court is an obscenity that should never be allowed. What? Self-avowed criminals demanding "rights" on the very steps of the highest court in the land? Where's the law enforcement? These people have been led to believe that they have rights they do not. The rights, privileges, and obligations of citizens are reserved to legal citizens only.
The 1st Amendment protections for speech and assembly and to petition government for redress of grievances apply more properly to the Legislative and Executive branches of government. The institutions of Congress and the Office of the Presidency are directly representative of the electorate. As such, they have a duty and obligation to be responsive to the peoples' concerns, with-in the bounds of Constitutional limits. The Judiciary is different. Particularly at the level of the State Supreme Courts and certainly at the level of SCOTUS.
Just as the Executive and Legislative branches serve as checks and balances on the potential abuse of power by each, so too is the Judicial branch meant as a check and balance on them both. It is the primary duty of the Supreme Court to rein in the excesses of government in order to protect the citizens against encroachment on their individual rights by unconstitutional government power grabs.
It is crucial that Justices be immune to political and populist pressures. The Judiciary was set apart from the rest of government expressly for that purpose. Supreme Court justices are given lifetime appointments to insulate them from such pressures. These judges do NOT have any direct obligation to the populace. Their duty is to the country as a whole, through absolute fidelity to the law of the land: the Constitution of the United States of America. In light of this most solemn of legal obligations, our President's blatant attempt to influence court decisions is particularly troubling.
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