Bluetooth People

I haven't had a good rant in a while so I think I'm due....please indulge me. What the hell is up with these Bluetooth people?! You know the ones I'm talking about; they run around in public places with the little cordless phone gizmo attached to the side of their heads. Sometimes they are carrying on conversations and sometimes they are just walking around with that widget sticking outta their skull with no call on it. It's just there like a high tech tumour or a metallic, shiny wart that needs to be cut off.

When I see these Bluetooth people, I automatically deduct 25 points from the IQ I perceive them to have. 25 points right off the top for not having the good sense not to appear in public looking like some type of droid. It all too often seems these same folks are the ones that don't have the basic sense or common courtesy not to carry on loud phone conversations in public places. I theorize that they just lack common sense and courtesy in general. Observation seems to confirm this. There is a gal in my college math class who walks around with one anchored to her rather thick head. She also is prone to talking during lectures (not on the Bluetooth, just to anyone sitting around her) and complaining because certain things about the class aren't set up to suit her. She's annoying. She'd be annoying even if she didn't have the electrical device growing from her ear but she's even more annoying with it.

Now not all people who own one of these contraptions are annoying or inconsiderate. My friend James owns one but he has the common sense to only use it while he's driving. Smart. Considerate. Makes sense. He's the exception.

The rest of 'em are just bothersome and dense.

Supporting the Troops

In the last week there has been a lot in the news about the abysmal conditions, squalid housing and bureaucratic delays in outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Seems that the military has done a rather poor job of taking care of our returning wounded. Here we are 4 years into the Iraq fiasco and it's just now becoming a concern as to how we take care of our vets. W is supposed to give his Saturday radio address today (which I'm sure he put a great deal of thought into....just like everything he does) in which he will say, "... some of our troops at Walter Reed have experienced bureaucratic delays and living conditions that are less than they deserve. This is unacceptable to me, it is unacceptable to our country, and it's not going to continue."

Well, better late than never. But I don't want to lay all the blame at Shrub's feet. We've had a history for a couple of decades now of not doing enough for our vets. On the way to work this morning I passed two homeless men at different corners who were holding signs that said "veteran". The National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC) done in 1996, projected that: Each year, 2.3 million to 3.5 million people experience homelessness in America. By taking 23% of that range for veterans, that would indicate there are between 529,000 and 840,000 veterans who are homeless at some time during the year. That's a lot of veterans. Where has the support for them been?

It became very fashionable a few years back in this country to buy magnets (which were usually made in China) that say "Support the Troops" and drive around in one's vehicle (usually made in Japan) while burning lots of gasoline (made with oil imported from the Middle East) with those magnets patriotically attached to the back end of said vehicle. I often wonder how many of the Patriots give a rat's ass about those homeless vets or the ones forced to live in squalor at our preeminent military hospital.

Of course, maybe it's more of an intangible, abstract kind of support they mean to offer.