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How Many Aliens Per Hour Did You Do Today?

Bob — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:09:40 GMT

     NILAND, Calif. (AP) — It was a special delivery indeed — 13 suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico stuffed in a phony UPS van.
     The U.S. Border Patrol said Tuesday that agents stopped the van Friday as the driver tried to circumvent a highway checkpoint near Niland, about 150 miles east of San Diego in California's Imperial Valley, near the Mexican border.
     The van looked like a legitimate United Parcel Service Inc. delivery vehicle, except the company decal on the back door was slightly crooked.
     The driver, U.S. citizen Daniel Lopez, was charged in federal court in El Centro with illegal transportation of aliens, authorities said.
     Carlos Goens, the driver of another truck, was charged with the same crime after being detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint. He is suspected of coordinating with the UPS van.
     Migrants told authorities they had agreed to pay between $5,000 and $8,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to the criminal complaint.
     An agent reported seeing Goens leave a suspected stash house for illegal immigrants in the town of Brawley, leading authorities to the UPS vehicle. Another agent pulled over the UPS van at a mobile home park in Niland.
     Attorneys for Goens and Lopez did not immediately respond to phone messages Wednesday.
     Border Patrol agents recently began visiting Imperial Valley businesses and government agencies to warn about smugglers cloning their vehicles, said spokesman Adrian Corona. Telltale signs include misspellings on agency or company logos and crooked decals.
     In recent years, smugglers have used fake vehicles of the California Highway Patrol and Imperial Irrigation District.
     Last year, a white van filled with 13 illegal immigrants from Mexico dressed as clean-cut Marines were stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint near San Diego.
     A Border Patrol agent who had served in the Marine Corps wasn't fooled, especially when the driver didn't know the Corps' birthday.

UPS: Brown & Gold or Scaredy Cat Yellow

George — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:24:12 GMT

I buy everything online. I would rather wear a dress, pantyhose and high heels for the rest of my life than go shopping in the physical world. And let me tell you, I would look like a drag queen in that outfit — it’s not pretty and I’m doing everyone a great service by staying out of stores. Anyway, because I shop online so much, I usually have a consistent stream of packages arriving at my house.

I have lived in my house for almost ten years and have had four dogs for just about the same amount of time. For ten years I have had UPS and FedEx deliver my online orders with no issues. Moreover, both the UPS drivers and FedEx drivers bring treats for the dogs and get out and pet them. The dogs tails wag in everlasting love as they happily soak up the attention — and snacks.

Fast forward to the middle of 2011 and our neighborhood is assigned a new UPS driver. All of a sudden my packages stop being delivered. Instead of packages, I receive a tsunami of paper notifications that cite the packages are undeliverable because the “dogs were out.”

Now let me immerse you into reality of this “dogs were out” situation. My dogs are not like Cujo — the rabies-ridden St. Bernard who unleashes a reign of terror on a family. Two of my dogs are chocolate labs. Have ‘ya ever seen a lab? They are incredibly sweet and the only terror they unleash is if you happen to turn your back on your food — they will swoop in and consume it like a seagull. One of my dogs is a Shiba Inu. She is small and looks like a fox. She wags her tail so crazily she looks like a middle-aged woman doing the chicken dance at a wedding. Our forth dog Indy is a rescue dog. We went to the shelter and told them we wanted the dog that nobody wanted and had been there the longest. We think he is an Australian Sheppard/Spaniel mix. He is definitely a barker, but certainly doesn’t foam at the mouth.

I was finally able to catch the UPS driver one day and asked him why he wouldn’t deliver the packages. He was surprisingly rude and actually barked at me when he responded. He said he was not going to risk his life to deliver my packages. Excuse me? I never recalled reading that a lab had killed a man. Just to be sure, I Googled “lab kills man.” The only lab that ever killed a man was an exploding meth lab, not a dopey chocolate lab.

I went on to tell the driver that we have an electric fence for the dogs, so they couldn’t get on the front walkway or grass. As such, all he needed to do was drive down the driveway and step out his driverside door and directly onto my front walkway. The electric fence means he would never have to be within 10 feet of any of my harmless dogs. He barked at me again and said he refused to do that.

I called the local UPS distribution center and spoke to a supervisor. I was very reasonable and calm while I explained the situation. She informed me that this particular driver had been bit by a dog and now feared them. While I empathized with his situation, I explained that I thought that should be UPS’s issue, not mine. A quick Google search identified that 39% of US households own at least one dog — that’s 44.9 million households who own 78.2 million dogs.

So here’s my question: Should the customer who owns a dog/s suffer the consequences of a UPS driver who has a fear of dogs or should UPS deal with this issue because the driver is incapable of performing his duties? I’m pretty sure if a person was afraid of water (Aquaphobia), they wouldn’t be hired as a lifeguard. Or if someone was afraid of riding in a car (Amaxophobia), they wouldn’t be hired as a limo driver. So if 44.9 million households in the US have dog/s, how can someone with a fear of dogs (Cynophobia) be hired as a UPS driver?

Do you think UPS brand colors should be brown and gold or, perhaps more appropriately, brown and scaredy cat yellow?

Posted on the Kel Kelly Blog

Robert Reich: Private Equity Explained in Simple Terms

Bob — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:59:14 GMT

All of you will remember a number of companies that this happened to. Continental Airlines is one, and there are many more. A glowing statement for the man who wants to lead the free world.

That's the Game

Bob — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:40:41 GMT

Has been for years. Get 'em used to paying higher prices, increase our profits.

Calvin Joins the Majority of Americans

Bob — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:25:02 GMT

What Can Brown Do For You?

George — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:57:04 GMT

An interesting series of events took place recently with United Parcel Service (UPS).

I arrived home from work the other day to discover a package sitting in a flower bed near my back door. It had a UPS-generated address label, made out to our address, but using my wife’s maiden name (which she has not used since the 90′s).

I took the package inside and we opened it up. To our surprise, the package contained several bottles of prescripion medications. I recognized some of them to be blood thinner, blood pressure and cholesterol medicines. We also noticed that the patient’s name on the containers were not my wifes, but rather someone else with a different first name and the same last name as my wife’s maiden name.

We then got to looking closer at the mailing label. We peeled it back and discovered an original mailing label that was addressed to the same person who’s name was on the prescription bottles. Her address was different than ours, and was located in a city some 60 miles from where we lived.

We couldn’t imagine why UPS would take it upon themselves to cover up the original mailing label and generate a new one, for a person with a different first name and address, and in a different city. I called the prescription company who shipped the package, and they too were at a loss as to why this might happen.

The prescription company thanked me, and said they would send their patient out a new package immediatey, and I assured them I would send the package back.

A few days later guess who shows up at our door? You guessed it. UPS…with yet another package for the same poor lady, again with the original mailing label – showing a different person at a different address – covered up with a new UPS label changing the recepient to my wife’s maiden name at our address.

I explained the whole story to the driver and he indicated he would return the package to the shipper.

The next day I took the 1st package to my local UPS Store to have it returned (I hadn’t been in a hurry to drop it off, since the pharmacy was sending out a new package to the patient).

I handed the package to the clerk behind the counter and explained the problem, and that it needed to be returned to the sender. He looked at the label and said, “I can’t take this, if I scan the label into the system it will just come back to you.”

By this point I was frustrated and quipped, “At this point I don’t care if you throw it in the trash. It’s not my problem, and it wasn’t my screw-up. Do what you want with it” and I walked out.

So yeah Brown, I got something you can do for me…

And the followup posting...................

My fellow BS’er Bill gave me some good-natured (and deserved) teasing the other day as a result of my recent What Can Brown Do For You? post.

Well, I guess we had this coming…

Several weeks ago my wife placed an online order for some new shoes, to be shipped to the elementary school where she works. Imagine her surprise today when my wife received an email from a man named Mark Craig who lives in Canada. Seems he received my wife’s shoes, in a package with a UPS-generated shipping label, showing his name and address. He had opened the package and found my wife’s name and address on the enclosed paperwork, Google’d the school name, found my wife’s email address, and sent her the note.

Out of curiosity, when she emailed Mark back, she asked him if there was an original mailing label under the one directing the package to him. She asked if there was a label that showed her name and address. He responded yes, there was such a label in place.

So this time UPS didn’t just redirect a package to a different woman’s name, at a different address, in a different city 60 miles away. This time they changed the address label from a woman’s name to a man’s name - and shipped it to a different country.

TheBSBlog

A Thing of the Past if Republicans have Their Way

Bob — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:12:09 GMT

My Mama Was a Corporation?

Bob — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:13:15 GMT

The End of the American Dream?

Bob — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:55:21 GMT

Cartoons or Reality?

Bob — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:26:06 GMT

Cartoons?

Bob — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:25:03 GMT

Reality Speaks

Bob — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:15:27 GMT

Thanks Union

Bob — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:56:20 GMT

Thank the unions

by teacherken Follow

I will shortly leave for work as a classroom teacher.

I have protection from arbitrary firing - because I am in a union

I am not forced into downward competition for compensation - because I am in a union

I have paid holidays and paid leave - because I am in a union

I still have a defined benefit pension - because I am in a union

If you have any of those things, or any of these

- 8 hours or less work per day

- workplace safety rules

- 5 day work week

- paid overtime or compensatory time off

or any of many other things,
thank the unions

States with higher standards of living have higher average wages - these are not "right to work" states

Let's translate "right to work" - the power of the employers to be arbitrary and even abusive to their employees.

I grew up in the 1950s. That is when the American middle class was built.

We had our highest marginal tax rates. We were paying off the immense debt from World War II and the smaller debt from Korea. People's educational attainment was increasing, in part due to the GI Bill. And we had the highest percentage of our workforce unionized.

Correlation is not causation. I know that.

But the ordinary people do better when unions thrive.

Thank the unions.

You can do that by refusing to support politicians who do not support the unions, even if you are not in a union.

And if you are not in a union, maybe it is time you were? Maybe you should help organize one where you work?

Have a nice day.

I will, because I am a member of a union.

How about you?

Originally posted to teacherken on Wed May 16, 2012 at 03:08 AM PDT.

Broken Urn Sends Relative’s Ashes Flying

George — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:28:49 GMT

Shedding a tear, Rita Torres struggled as she recalled watching her brother Jimmy’s ashes fly out from an urn into a cloud of dust.

She pulled up a mat in the living room, showing his remains on the floor. Unable to clean them up with her bad knees, she covered the ashes because she was afraid her cat would confuse them for kitty litter.

“It just breaks my heart every time I think of what’s happened to him,” Torres said.

“It hurts.”

Jimmy died of a stroke last month in Washington state. At the request of his guardian, Spokane Cremation and Burial of Spokane shipped his ashes to Torres in an eagle urn.

“When I opened it up and everything started flying out, I said ‘No way!’ That’s his ashes right there.”

Torres says the eagle statue was broken off from the base, leaving a gaping hole. His ashes poured out. Torres initially blamed UPS because she remembered hearing the driver drop her package “hard” in her front yard.

Our investigation uncovered the funeral home never should have shipped the urn through UPS. Shipping “human remains” is against UPS policy, something those in the funeral industry tell us is well known.

“We do adhere to some very strict code of ethics,” said Lisa West with East Lawn Memorial Park of Sacramento.

When we told West about what happened, she and a colleague stopped by Torres’ home, helping her clean up the remains. West says basic industry practice calls for ashes to be bagged, not just placed raw inside an urn.

“With use of something as simple as a plastic bag inside an urn, you avoid any problem no matter what the compromise is to the urn,” she said.

Spokane Cremation and Burial Service owner Bill Rossey told CBS13 by phone that he packed the urn in the box well. He declined an on-camera interview and pointed the finger at UPS and the urn’s manufacturer, suggesting a possible workmanship issue with the urn or rough handling by the shipper.

“I’ve been in the business 15 years,” he said. “I’ve handled thousands of cases with remains and never have I heard anyone say anything about an urn breaking before.”

Rossey had no explanation for breaking UPS rules and claimed he didn’t put the ashes in plastic before placing them in the urn because a bag wouldn’t fit.

But West demonstrated for CBS13 how she’s fit ashes in urns with smaller openings.

The urn’s manufacturer Ziegler and Ames told us, “It was completely irresponsible of Spokane Cremation to have shipped cremated remains in this fashion. … It saddens us greatly that anyone should be subjected to what this woman has gone through.”

The company supplied her with a new urn at no cost. Seeing her brother’s ashes go up in a dust cloud is something Torres can’t get out of her mind.

“I just hope they don’t do this to somebody else,” she said.

UPS Statement
I was able to follow up on this one and I’ve learned that our customer relations group made contact with this customer to apologize for the way the package was delivered. In addition, UPS has issued a goodwill payment in the amount of $300, to cover the replacement of the owl statue that the urn was contained in. (editor note: Torres initially reported it to be an owl urn, but later determined it was an eagle)

However, it is incumbent on the shipper to properly package the item to withhold the shipping environment, as well as adhere to the UPS tariff which states: Items Not Accepted for Transportation includes “Human Remains, fetal remains, human body parts, or components thereof” as not accepted for shipment.

We will follow up with the shipper in this case. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

— Laurie Mallis

NWCN.com

Ticket

George — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:18:59 GMT

Accident on Busy Highway

George — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:13:52 GMT

Once Upon a Time

George — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:07:18 GMT

What the GOP Really Thinks of the Union Worker

Bob — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:01:33 GMT

Here's what Henry Payne and the GOP really think of the Union worker. It just shows the disdain these people hold for the middle class. You all make to much money they say. This is the mentality you are voting for when you vote Republican. As if a decent wage, a decent pension, and good healthcare were to much to ask for. Get a clue people.

War on Women

Bob — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:53:10 GMT

The Daily Show
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Lest We Forget

Bob — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:37:44 GMT