Las Vegas Beer, Las Vegas Motels, Las Vegas Politics.

Good Food Here!! Recommended by L.E.
Another close to downtown Motel
A downtown motel adjacent to Fremont Experience. [Note sign "Your Future Starts Here"].

LAS VEGAS BEER DRINKERS:

As L.E. pointed out yesterday Miller and Coors, whilst advertising themselves as more American than apple pie, are actually owned by foreign interests.

As L.E. also noted yesterday, the iconic Chrysler building is likely to be purchased by an Arab sovereign fund.

The latest American icon likely to be taken over by foreign interests is BUDWEISER. A Belgium company (owner of Becks among others)is attempting to take over Bud in order to obtain a world market share of approximately 25%.

Does this matter? Should lawmakers step in to stop the sale?

LAS VEGAS MEANINGFUL POLITICAL COMMENT FOR SAD DEMOCRATS, JADED REPUBLICANS & THOSE OF US WHO HOPE FOR A BETTER UNITED STATES.

2008 Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader discusses a remark (regarding not running) made to him by a fellow alumnus at a recent Princeton reunion.

"I was at my Princeton reunion the other day, and a young alumnus came up to me - he was very kind - and he said "You know, I really like what you're doing - I like what you did - but please don't run."
I said "Do you realize what you are saying?"
And he said "Yes, I said please don't run."
I said "You're telling me not to use my First Amendment rights of speech, assembly, and petition inside the electoral arena. You're telling me to shut up. Are you aware of what you're saying?"
He said "I understand, I understand, I like what you're doing, but please don't run."
So I went through and I said "Well, would you tell those voters instead of trying to determine which one was worse between the Democrats and the Whigs, the two major parties in the 19th century, and instead cut out and voted for the Liberty Party, which was the anti-slavery party - would you say to those candidates, 'Don't run'?" And he sort of paused. And I said "How about the people who refused to go least-worst between the Republicans and Democrats on women's suffrage? Would you tell those candidates 'don't run'? What do you say to that?"
And he paused.
And I took it up to date and I said "Would you tell Buchanan not to run?"
And he said "I understand what you are saying, but please don't run."
And I said "You know, unwittingly, you are engaging in a politically bigoted statement. Because you can oppose, and you can support, any candidates you want. But when you are saying to someone 'don't run' you are saying to someone 'do not speak, do not petition, do not assemble inside the electoral arena.'"
Now I'm saying this because I'm sure you've had these conversations with people. Look at the word spoiler. Spoiler is a contemptuous word of political bigotry. They do not accuse George W. Bush of being the spoiler in 2000, and last I heard he got more votes than I did, vis-a-vis Al Gore. It's only the independent and third parties that are called spoilers.
And think of the hubris here - these two parties have spoiled our elections, they've spoiled our government, they've spoiled our politics - and to have the temerity to say to someone who wants to reform the process that they are spoilers - they have no sense of humor - I mean, how do you satire satire?" [EMPHASIS ADDED].

L.E. Fant of Las Vegas wishes all a pleasant weekend and may the price of gasoline lower itself by a Dollar or more.

Las Vegas Multicultural, Las Vegas Black and Tan, Las Vegas Computer Woes.

Please click on images to enlarge. Bass and Guiness together make a great "Black and Tan."
Las Vegas is multicultural-here we have Tai, Chinese, and Hispanic ads.

POLL:

As expected most respondents believe second opinions are necessary when dealing with many of these folks.

Today's poll is to find your preference for spelling the plural of "bus" [omnibus].

Here in Las Vegas (as in California) signs use the spelling "Busses." Webster's concludes that "Buses" is also acceptable. L.E. finds the appearance of the "ss" spelling to be cumbersome and finds it just does not "look right."

GASOLINE:

L.E. was horrified to pay $3.87 per gallon yesterday.

www.automotive.com/gas-prices

DIGITAL MAX AND FRIENDS AGAIN CONFIRM THAT THEY ARE NOT L.E. FANT’S FRIENDS IN THE DIGITAL AGE AS THEY WOULD LEAD US TO BELIEVE!! [L.E. BELIEVES THE LAS VEGAS CABLE MONOPOLY HAS OVERSTEPPED THE BOUNDS OF REASONABLE DEALINGS WITH ITS CUSTOMERS VIA ITS CORPORATE POLICIES]

Readers may remember L.E.’s last skirmish with the Las Vegas cable monopoly where its installer ruined a ceiling of L.E.’s residence during an installation AND ATTEMPTED TO USE AN UNLICENSED CONTRACTOR TO MAKE REPAIRS.
L.E. has used its cable service for over 4 years now. He has consistently paid the monthly bill on time (actually in advance) and the amount outstanding according to the online account system (this is easily verifiable by Digital Max and his friends).
Last month L.E. went online and paid the amount outstanding according to the web page of his account (the amount was approximately $24 less than the earlier paper bill received by L.E.). L.E. believed that as he had received some credits for the failed cable Internet service and had removed HBO (could not find even one movie that L.E. or wife desired to watch!) there was a later (than the paper bill) adjustment. When paying L.E. had a premonition that a problem may arise and he attempted to make a copy of the computer screen, but failed).
L.E. a week or so later received his regular paper bill which included a late amount outstanding of $24 and a late fee of $6. L.E. noted that he must call Max or his friends to discuss this problem.
Then the computer nightmare commenced and L.E. put off the call for a few days.
Yesterday another letter from the cable monopoly which was headed “NOTICE OF SUSPENSION AND DISCONNECTION” and went on to demand immediate payment of $98.93 to avoid further fees of $15, $6 and $15, together with threats of even more deposit, additional deposit, reconnection fee and first month service amounts to be due to these avaricious monopolistic vultures.
Please bear in mind that one is usually in credit (by prepayment) with Max and friends as one prepays by one month (same as for our trash services). L.E. cannot come to terms with how we allow these corporations to charge us late fees for amounts which are only late because they treat the amount as due to be prepaid.
The first phone call was to a less than receptive friend of Max (I use “Max” as L.E.’s previous pillorying of C*x resulted in them getting ads on his page). This gentleman essentially said pay the bill as stated or be disconnected. L.E. asked that person to review L.E.’s payment history and perhaps at least consider that it is unlikely that L.E. would choose to underpay his account and that more likely Max or friends had erred causing L.E.’s current predicament.
Sadly reason had no place is the conversation and L.E. demanded to speak with another before becoming apoplectic.
L.E.’s stomach turned when the next person came on the phone. She was nearly unintelligible to L.E. as she was possibly eating and her diction was not that of a person who should be on a phone bank. After asking that she turn up the volume and or make attempt to speak more clearly the conversation began with her asking L.E. how he wished to pay-Visa or MC?
L.E. responded neither of those as he disputes the bill. Back and forth ensued, L.E., in effort to retain some of his sanity, offered to pay the $24 amount but no fees whatsoever. This offer was accepted with reservation. Apparently Max and friends are trained by their corporate monopoly taskmasters to be condescending to customers and always assume the customer to be wrong.
L.E. was informed that the waiver of fee(s) was a one time courtesy granted because L.E. “misunderstood” his bill. L.E. informed the representative that he most definitely did not misunderstand his bill, Max had erred and he will demand correction as a matter of right not as a courtesy from those who have erred in their accounting such as her cohorts.
L.E. is now seriously considering satellite service (at least two to choose from) to replace the so-called “service” provided by the cable monopoly in Las Vegas as he finds its corporate attitude of condescension and self righteousness unacceptable.


L.E's Computer woes continue!!
It seems that computer troubles are in threes.
Yesterday L.E.’s computer and his laptop demanded that he update them with Windows XP Service Pack 3. He did so and all was well.
His wife attempted to update her computer by using the same method. This resulted in her computer failing to re-establish Windows OS. In panic she reverted to a previous system which lost access to many programs.
This morning L.E. again downloaded the update and again the system failed to open to Windows unless one uses “safe mode.” L.E. has emailed Microsoft and hopes to resolve this frustration soon, yet believes that unlikely.