> Yeah, and you can bet your *** that if they could get on Al-Jazeera, they
> would take the last Dinar, or whatever currency they use in Iraq, to do the
> work of the "lord'. I get a real hoot out of that greasy haired man with
> the handlebar mustache, and the bouffant pink haired hooker looking bitch
> that Amens him, all the time.
>
> --
What do you think of instituting a National 'No Rip-Off Day'? Or should it be international?

National 'No Rip-Off Day'
by A.H. "Pug" Jones
Today's advertising, television evangelism, politics, news reporting, and retailing are so sophisticated and high tech that consumers, watchers, believers, and readers can hardly tell when or how they are cheated. If a dastardly deed is discovered, little can be done. Often, it is a small thing, hardly worth getting upset about. It may make the cheated person feel foolish, even to complain about it. Consequently, many people feel angry at someone or about something most of the time.
Consider a package of bacon. No matter how carefully you examine it, the pieces that show are always leaner than the rest. If you buy a bunch of radishes there's at least one or more, that are inedible. A package of pork chops is perfect except for the chop under the price tag. It has a big strip of bone and gristle through it. Are substandard chops set aside, so packagers can put one under each tag? Why are the biggest and ripest strawberries always on top of the package and the mushy or whitish/green ones on the bottom.
In jewelry ads, microscopic disclaimers note that gems and rings are smaller than the pictures. Duh! Magazine subscriptions state how much is saved over news stand prices --though those stands must be in Tokyo or Geneva-- but not where we shop. Sale prices often compare a $2.96 item with another at $6.95. Have you ever been able to find who sells the $6.95 item?
The scariest things are new inventions or goods that cost $19.99 to $29.95 with a $4.95 to $6.95 shipping charge. Maybe at $19.99 price you would be paying only twice the cost of a vegetable cutter --two tubes of spot remover-- or a self-wringing mop. When you add shipping costs, the item costs two or three times as much. Here's the real deal--the product's shipping charge is the actual cost of the product. Even if you return it, they don't lose and you have paid the shipping both ways. Is that a rip-off or what?
There are stock investment magazines, real estate tapes, exercise equipment for body parts you'd rather forget and psychics, who tell you how to make important life decisions. Of course your first call or demo video is free. They ship the second magazine, tape or piece of equipment just one day after the free one is sent. You owe money before you've inspected the freebie.
The best time to see "truth" in politics is during a presidential election year when everyone promises everything to everyone else. Does any politican tell the truth ... about anything? Do any of them credit voters with the intelligence to figure out what is truthful and what isn't?
News reporters do report facts, but often use statistics and quotes that distort the actual meaning of any fact. Statisticians who compile survey results can take a set of figures and make them prove something, conclusively. Then taking the same set of figures, someone else can prove the exact opposite of the original premise. Wow!
What if your phone rang on Tuesday evening during dinner and a voice said, "Good evening, Mr. Smith. I am a professional telephone fund-raiser. The Smoky Bear Fire Department hired me to see how much money I could collect. They want to give a Smoky Bear party for 15 disadvantaged kids to tell them about fire dangers. By law, we must tell you that 97% of the collections go directly to our company. The company pays me a healthy fee for each donation that I coerce from you. Now how much would you like to donate to the Smoky Bear Fire Department (or The Sheriff's Donkey Posse or The Lifeguard's Award to the person with the best tan)? This truth would hardly make you run for your checkbook, would it?
Perhaps it's time for a National No rip-off Day, when every person selling, advertising, politicking, preaching, promising, or writing about something in exchange for money or a vote would have to tell the truth, preferably face-to-face.
Of course, the National No-Rip-Off Day will have to be postponed until after November.
http://www.hsvvoice....03/0611/Column/http://committed.to/justiceforpeace