| recent comments mjp said: I'm, uh, working on it. Right now. ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up! shane said: michael phillips,you are a fuckin madman,post yer next story... ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up! mjp said: Yes, that is a potential problem for people in 10,001. I often worry about... ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... damian said: indeed. ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... Scott h Florance said: The Christians believe Jesus Christ tis immortal and he lives forever. It is... ~ Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... mjp said: Isn't there a NASCAR or gun or fishing or tabakky-chewing site you can go... ~ I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead Andrew Olin Jones said: Hillbilly said you might turn off the smog but I don't want you to do that... ~ I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead mjp said: My childhood box? I don't think anyone wants to open that... ~ Fly me to the moon, then blow that shit up!   previous ramblings • I can see for miles, but it's kind of blurry up ahead 2.18.08 • Simple is as simple does 1.31.08 • I feel the earthworms under my feet 1.22.08 • New boots and panties 1.19.08 • I haven't given up, I've just stopped trying 12.25.07 • I don't pray. Kneeling bags my nylons. 12.20.07 • So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night 9.19.07 • Grab the closet case by the horns 8.11.07 • Blogged down in the forum of my youth 5.23.07 • Hotter than July 5.16.07 • 26 Miles Across the Deep Blue Sea 5.11.07 • A rose by any other name, still doesn't smell so good 4.6.07 • Children of a lesser dog from hell 2.22.07 • Squid lights 1.9.07 • Cats and dogs 12.19.06 • Mission accomplished! 11.22.06 • Various tidbits of marginal interest to anyone 11.9.06 • Buddy, can you spare a town? 10.16.06 • A garbage can is somewhat precise. 10.6.06 • Another cantankerous rant - surprise! 9.25.06 • Hey, where you been? 9.1.06 • Geeeeeeee mail, @smog.net 7.27.06 • Oh good lord, it's a kid's show 7.22.06 • Sleeping dogs 6.28.06 • Dumb and dumber 6.21.06 • HDTV for $150! 5.16.06 • Thank you for calling the White House. My name is Krishna, how may I be providing you excellent service today? 4.28.06 • Decades and bits of centuries 4.24.06 • Secret Society 3.22.06 • Sometimes I don't speak right, but yet I know what I'm talking about 3.20.06 • This is the modern world 3.15.06 • Shakespeare never did this 2.18.06 • Who is Lonnie Tolliver, and why should you care? 1.27.06 • Scuttlebutt and innuendo 1.16.06 • Beware the fury of a patient man 1.6.06 • I feel 100 pounds lighter already... 12.30.05 • Dude! Your wiki is showing... 12.20.05 • Yeti spotted, film at 11! 12.19.05 • "God is a concept by which we measure our pain." 12.9.05 • Doctor, it hurts when I move my arm like this... 12.8.05 • Hey, what's with the torn up clothes, and didn't you have a shag haircut last week? 12.5.05 • Shameless self-promotion or a desperate cry for love? You decide. 11.18.05 • Further proof that drinking will kill you 11.6.05 • Big Apple dreamin' on a wooden floor 11.1.05 • Happy birthday to smog. Now where's my cake? 10.16.05 • I got nothing 10.4.05 • free within my own doom 9.25.05 • A Rambling Essay on Politics and the Bleeding Life Written While Drinking a Six-Pack (Tall) 9.12.05 • (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown 8.31.05 • Well, could I have her spam instead of the baked beans then? 8.28.05 • What has four wheels and flies? 8.21.05 • Don't think twice, it's all right 8.13.05 • My ass is getting cold sitting on this glacier... 8.11.05 • Capital radio 8.11.05 • nobody's fault 7.23.05 • secret santa 7.3.05 • everything we touch turns to rust 6.21.05 • on the edge of seventeen 6.13.05 • life at 300 baud 6.9.05 • 12 steps away from the screen, running 6.5.05 • shake a leg 6.5.05 • san pedro anarchy press, Inc. 5.22.05 • Z is for zealot 5.20.05 • Lenny Bruce was right 5.16.05 • bad meat in the can 5.12.05 • it's in the water 5.12.05 • you tell me 5.10.05 • what matters most is how well you're lit 5.5.05 • just keep pulling the handle, it'll all be over soon 5.3.05 • rust never sleeps 4.24.05 • randomness, chaos and deliverance 4.21.05 • baby was a black sheep, baby was a whore 4.20.05 • Kill my boss? Do I dare live out the American dream? 4.16.05 • roses are red, violets are blue, i thought my hell had ended, but the devil is a crafty bastard with a sick sense of humor and a mean streak a mile wide 4.14.05 • rock the cash bar 4.12.05 • many rivers to cross 4.10.05 • imitation is the sincerest form of unoriginality 4.8.05 • if you are the big tree, we are the small axe! 4.8.05 • give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine 4.4.05 • and who the hell figured QWERTY was a good idea? 4.4.05 • your pope was nothing compared to this guy! 4.3.05 • you've got a TV...i've got a TV...we've all got TV's... 3.29.05 • hitler painted roses 3.26.05 • counselor 3.25.05 • she's still here, damn it! 3.21.05 • patience is a virtue, but resignation is for suckers. 3.13.05 • should have taken mom up on those violin lessons... 3.9.05 • last night a dj saved my life! yeah, maaaaan! 3.9.05 • if i had a hammer... 3.8.05 • caveman re-invents the wheel! film at 11. 3.7.05 • he's mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore! 3.4.05 • this is a public service announcement - with guitar! 3.2.05 • battlefield girth 2.28.05 • never give a media giant an even break 2.25.05 • 10 Things I've done that you haven't 2.24.05 • come back, bastard! 2.23.05 • hey, just because he likes Judy Garland records and the Tony awards doesn't necessarily mean anything... 2.23.05 • "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." 2.21.05 • I couldn't say it if it wasn't true 2.17.05 • The demons begged Jesus, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs." 2.11.05 • how to lose 10 pounds in five minutes! 2.6.05 • earth to smog, earth to smog 2.5.05 • my own private chernobyl... 2.2.05 • Estoy solo, pero siento que tu estas conmigo. 1.26.05 • confessions of an obsessive freak of nature 1.5.05 • death wants more death 12.30.04 • every mikkle make a muckle (ask a Jamaican what it means) 12.17.04 • things that don't suck 12.15.04 • what's it all about, mjp? 11.11.04 • old dog, new tricks 9.2.04 • if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all 8.15.04 • Frida Kahlo, Charles Bukowski and Joel-Peter Witkin have left the building 2.13.03 • R.I.P. smog.net 5.19.04 • almost cut my hair...it happened just the other day 4.23.04 • and we're back! 4.22.04 • one cocoa full a basket 2.14.04 • let's get ready to rumble 1.24.04 • brace yourself for a shitstorm 1.6.04 • it's my party, i'll o.d. if i want to 12.6.03 • pimp-a-licious 11.27.03 • on a clear day you can see the 18th century 11.9.03 • men are from mars, women are from vegas 10.14.03 • hit and run walker 10.6.03 • It's all cow, after all 10.2.03 • Johnny Cash is dead, Tower records is bankrupt, gawd save the fucking Queen. 9.13.03 • any history of mental illness? 9.10.03 • boggle: to hesitate as if in fear or doubt. 9.6.03 • pass the aspirin 8.27.03 • this is what i get for leaving the house 7.21.03 • safety in numbers 7.13.03 • god damn 7.11.03 • a million and one stupid things... 6.6.03 • praise Jeebus! 5.23.03 • Kennedy to John Lydon; "Oh, lighten up!" 5.20.03 • they say the French are cowards and assholes... 5.2.03 • I couldn't possibly be *that* fat! 4.19.03 • what's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding? 3.22.03 • this skunk's for you 3.12.03 • Monday's coming like a jail on wheels 2.24.03 • linux, linus, lomax, duck! 2.20.03 • FREE MICHAEL JACKSON! 2.18.03 • the weather in Los Angeles is cloudy 2.13.03 ©1995-2008 mjp | Sleeping dogs Wednesday, June 28th 2006, 2:35am  Last Friday the layoffs started for the Los Angeles staff at PowWeb. This after Endurance assured and guaranteed me, on several different occasions, that their jobs would be safe through the end of the summer. Just another example of the sterling behavior of the GREATEST HOST ON EARTH. Yeah.Of course I'm at the new job with the new company, and it couldn't be better. I mean, I feel like a PowWeb P.O.W. seeing sunshine for the first time in three years, it's that good over here. Really. But --- things still grate on me from the PowWeb debacle.  These are universal issues, I suppose, and I should have expected them, but speaking my mind about the big takeover pissed some people off. An executive from Endurance called me at work on the new job and made thinly veiled threats - "I'm not sure what the legal ramifications are..." (referring to this post). Other low-level scrub employees and transplanted lapdogs flooded the comment system here with crap. You get the picture. Hey Josh, when they kick you to the curb (and trust me, they will kick you to the curb) don't come around here to vent.If anything in this post is inaccurate or untrue, feel free to explore the "legal ramifications."  I did not hide my displeasure during the early migration meetings with Endurance. I told their Vice President of Customer Support exactly what I thought of the whole deal. He then proceeded to explain to me in some detail how they did business, along with showing me the number that indicated the hourly pay for their Indian staff. Later, when he called me at my new job to threaten me, he said, "We took you into our confidence," as if I had betrayed him, which only demonstrates to me that he is a piss-poor judge of human behavior. Would you expose sensitive information to someone who was openly antagonistic toward your company? I wouldn't. But then I don't have a B.A. Maybe you learn how to do things like that in school.The thing is, I expected all of this to float away from my consciousness into the smog and ozone once I escaped the PowWeb/Endurance inferno. But as it turns out, the issues still rankle. I'm still opposed to the investment capital suits absorbing the independent, whether voluntarily or not. I still think the employees of PowWeb,  some of whom I worked with for over three years, were treated like shit by both PowWeb and Endurance. And most fundamentally, I still think it's incredibly WRONG to take a job away from someone here and send it to India or Mexico or the Philippines or Canada or anywhere else that isn't here. When they finally take away every American job that doesn't involve a desk, this country is going to crumble and fall, period. Postulate and ruminate and pontificate on that all you want, but when they tap you on the shoulder and say, "Sorry Ace, we're firing you and hiring a kid from the University in Iceland to do your job from a coffeehouse up there," don't say I didn't warn you.When Taco Bell opens up across the street from Joe's Taco Joint, they aren't doing it because they like Joe and want to be around him. They want to own him. Or more precisely, they want to own his customer's dollars, and they don't care if Joe's burritos were better than theirs. Your burritos are history, bitch! Deal with it. When every movie and record and cell phone is made by the same giant European or Asian company, you may start to feel the pinch. When every newspaper in America is owned and operated by the same Australian, or every car is made by the same whoever, chances are, you'll be pissed. And then you'll scratch your head and wonder, "How did this happen?" Like a lobster, boiling in a pot. Hmm. What does all this have to do with anything? I don't know. I get this way sometimes. Deal with it. My burrito is better than yours. on Friday, June 30th 2006 at 9:02am, Erik said: Beautiful rant MJP. Beauti-ful. Once again take a look at Michael Moore's "Roger & me". One correction: The cost of living in Iceland, part of social-democratic Scandinavia utopia - will never cause US jobs to be outsourced there. Believe me. ;-) (or am I wrong?) on Friday, June 30th 2006 at 10:53am, mjp said: If it doesn't make any sense to outsource to Iceland, then someone will do it. Why should they start behaving logically now? on Tuesday, July 4th 2006 at 12:19am, Hillbilly Jones said: Jobs moved to other countries have in fact generated more jobs in the U.S. and kept businesses open when they would have had to close had they not been able to outsource to India, Mexico, and other places where bathing daily isn?t a priority. Misinformed broadcasters (or should I say, informed lying bastards) like Lou Dobbs are wearing three-sided blinders when they call for protectionism. O?l Lou is slick at stirring up our emotions into a frenzy; and not to mention increasing his cable ratings. You see, you can fit the cable TV audience into a phone booth, their numbers are so small. Lou needs to do what Lou needs to do, for Lou. And he does. That doesn?t help my lovely wife?s aunt who was canned after 30+ years at her company, American Standard, when they moved her plant to Mexico. That?s true. But it ain?t as simple as our emotions think. I?m too tired to give my jungle reality analogy here again. You can find it on this site elsewhere. If we could stop outsourcing?which we cannot?THAT is when this country will ?crumble and fall.? If we don?t outsource, we can?t compete. And if we can?t compete, the only jobs that will be available in America will be wiping the ass of a Chinese shoe shine boy. Actually, that?s not what I wanted to say in this post. But I am confused about something. You mean, mjp, that you shared your honest feelings with a big dick from the company that you CURRENTLY work for? Or with a big dick from your FORMER employer? Which is it? (I?ve tried to keep up with what you?ve written about Pow this and Pow that, but at this late hour I just can?t add 2 + 2.) If you shared your honest feelings with a big dick from your CURRENT employer, that dick will eventually be up your ass. No ifs, ands, or buts. Sounds like you kicked a sleeping dog in the balls is what it sounds like to me. But it?s your ass. You don?t really want the jungle to be a zoo. You?ll end up laying on a cement floor all day, stinking up the place while little Chinese kids throw popcorn at you and a feller in a uniform throws one piece of rotten meat into your cage at sunset (if you?re lucky). That?s not what started this post either. Let me think?oh yeah? ?it is incredibly WRONG to take jobs away from a U.S. worker and send it elsewhere; but doing what is right never helped this economy grow and become stronger in the first place. Right and wrong are for warm and fuzzy biblical fables; not for reality. And gosh dern it, reality is the only hand we are dealt in the beginning, the middle, and in the end (no butt pun intended). My neighbor?s wife, Maureen Carlisle (of the Batesville Carlisle?s, not the Strawberry Carlisle?s) works for one of them big brokerage companies. All home office employees have worked 7.5 hours per day for the 29 years she?s worked for those fuck wads. Last week her company announced that they would all start working 8 hours per day BUT WOULD BE PAID for only the same 7.5 hours. Hmmm. Effectively, they trimmed their one-hour lunch break down to 30 minutes and won?t be paying anybody for that time, effective September 1, 2006. If that don?t piss a person off, nothing will. It ain?t right. It?s just flat out wrong. It?s gonna help profits though and KEEP JOBS and make the company competitive. If you wish for anything, wish that we could turn back the clock and put up the Iron Curtain again. That?s what started these dominos to falling. That?s not what started this post either. Oh yeah! Now I remember. Even when you?re incorrect?although noble at the same time?you still write good. Most shit makes me sleepy, but your shit keeps my attention; and is often funnier than a midget giving himself a rim job. on Tuesday, July 4th 2006 at 12:26am, Hillbilly Jones said: P.S. That link you put in SLEEPING DOGS don't go nowhere. You didn't delete it, did you? Say it ain't so! on Tuesday, July 4th 2006 at 5:38pm, mjp said: The link works fine man, what is you on about? on Tuesday, July 4th 2006 at 5:39pm, mjp said: Ah, I see what you mean...when you view the article on the page with comments the URL is fucked up. I'll try to fix. on Friday, July 7th 2006 at 8:25am, Hillbilly Jones said: You asked: "What is you on about?" Well, probably Arkansas' #1 cash crop but I really don't remember. But take note: There are not...I repeat, NOT 33 plants growing about 50 yards between the back of cousin Elton's barn and the Jones family cemetery. But if there were 33 plants at that location, they are for use only by us Jones' and friends; including two Sharp County deputies who say it's the best shit they've ever had since they busted that Gilbert kid who had three pounds (officially, one ounce) in his backpack while he was hitch hiking between Cherokee Village and Wild Cat Corner back in the late 70s on his way to his aunt Norma?s funeral. That Gilbert kid?David Wesley, I think was his name?showed a bit of promise at the Cave City Jr. High Science Fair, with his solar powered black light contraption that blinked in sync to K.C. & the Sunshine Band. Back in those days, harnessing solar power was rare for an 8th grader with buck teeth and Mohawk hair doo. It surprised his mama and daddy even more than his teachers cause normally he was 5 feet six inches tall and 200 pounds of Stupid, even on his best day. on Saturday, July 15th 2006 at 5:12am, gil said: It looks like i cant view your site at work. on Saturday, July 15th 2006 at 3:37pm, mjp said: Of course not. This is very subversive stuff! Yeah. on Sunday, July 16th 2006 at 12:44am, gil said: Yeah its funny because i always check for updates and about 1 week ago it became unavailable in addition to your mirror site whiskeytown.net not sure what was the point of that. on Sunday, July 16th 2006 at 1:27pm, Hillbilly Jones said: Yeah, the Mrs. and me couldn't get on here either, a couple of days ago. We checked Ms. Carol Es' site and buk dot net, and when they didn?t work; we figured pretty solid that it was a homespun mess or something like that. We went to our other blogs and forums, and I read responses to our posts to everybody in the house. Little Hillary had her friend, Courtney, over. They were both drinking water and Hillary was giving us all a tour of her newly cleaned bedroom before we came for our dose of smog. She arranges her clothes in her immaculate closet by "school, dress, casual at home, casual outside of home, and funerals." Her closet looks like a picture from House & Garden magazine. Erma Lyn Hart and her daughters, Mikki Kay and Paula Jean, brought by a jar of pigs feet. They was from the Hart?s best pigs, the ones they took care of about as good as they did Mikki Kay and Paula Jean. Of course, Grandma Jones was here, if you can call it that. Reverend Freddie Greene Byers came by and we gave him a quarter pound. He says it counts towards tithing; and frankly, based on current market value we?ve basically prepaid a few years in advance. He uses it for spiritual purposes, although his eyes look like BBs at some funerals. smog.blog powered by buddy V2.0 |