BRAZILliant

It has been an interesting week chez nous. We hired a maid to come in every other week. Her name is Carmen. She's from Brazil. Wednesday was her first day and she was here for about five hours. She is so thorough that she didn't even finish before she had to go, but promised to make up for it next time. There were only a couple things she didn't get to, but one of them was something we didn't think she would do at all because none of the other people we've had in would even think about cleaning our breakfront with all the glassware.

In other good news, I finally sold the four-wheel suitcase I bought in Germany. I had listed it a couple months ago in Craigslist. One guy called about it, but he didn't want to pay the $50 I was asking. I waited about a month and put it back in on Monday for $75. I had two inquiries and the second one came over on Friday and bought it for his daughter for her trip to.....Brazil.

NOTE TO MOBILE PHONE MAKERS: PLEASE, DO NOT PUT THE VOLUME CONTROL ON THE SIDE OF THE PHONE! THANK YOU.

Does anyone ever wonder why, in spite of the billions of dollars collected through various charities, no cure for anything has been discovered? You don't suppose it's because the drug companies, the insurance companies and the medical practitioners would lose millions if cures were discovered? Nah, couldn't be that.

Here is another example of how badly we're ripped in this country: "The annual premium for a policy providing replacement value for the house and its contents in case of fire, water, or storm damage was just 250 euros ($365). In California, we had been paying about $1500 (€1027) a year for similar coverage (which did not include earthquake insurance). I subsequently bought a car in Saint-Aignan and had it insured with AXA as well. Again, the annual premium for a full-service policy — liability, collision, and comprehensive coverage — was much lower than it had been in California for a similar policy." Americans will never learn! We are ripped-off in just about every way you can imagine, we are behind in just about every category used to measure the greatness of a country, and yet we go blithely on our way talking about living in the greatest country in the world. Some people, instead of waking up when reading this, will undoubtedly reply that if we dislike the US so much, we should leave. Well, just as soon as the dollar is worth more than fifty cents. Does anyone remember just a few years ago when the Canadian dollar was worth about fifty cents? Well, now it's the US dollar that's worth less.  We have the slowest internet service in the world, but pay the most.  We have the worst mobile phone service in the world, but again, we pay the most. 

As if all that wasn't bad enough, Monday it was learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans. Many citizens have no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform... in all of its forms.

Dumb Law of the Week: In Arkansas, a man can legally beat his wife once a month!

Bad Choice Logo of the Week:

À bientôt, mes amis.