07.2
09
by jachamp ·
We were born to mothers who smoked and drank
Our cribs were covered in lead based paint
No child proof lids, no seatbelts in cars
Rode bikes without helmets and still here we are
We got Daddy’s belt whenever we misbehaved
We had three channels you got up to change
No video and no satellite
All we had were friends and they were playing outside.
When we were boys and girls
It was a different life
It was a different life when we were boys and girls
Not just a different time no it was a different world
School started the same everyday.
The pledge of allegiance and someone would pray
Not every kid made the team when they tried
We were all disappointed but we turned out all right
We were all all right
It was a different life
It was a different life when we were boys and girls
Not just a different time no it was a different world
No bottled water we drank from the hose
And on every Sunday all the stores were closed
It was a different life
It was a different life when we were boys and girls
Not just a different time no it was a different world
It was a different life
It was a different life when we were boys and girls
Not just a different time no it was a different world
06.30
09
by jachamp ·
You sir have achieved the highest goal any child can hope to achieve with possibly one of the worst hands an American can be dealt with; a mixed race child to a single mother. The teasing and antogonism you must have faced daily while growing up must have been overwhelming at times. Kids can be cruel so I guess that is why you can be so cool under pressure today. You recognize it’s all words and has no actual bearing on you beyond whatever value you place on them.
So while I do appreciate you accomplishments and moreover the hope and unity you brought to this nation, Mr. President I am getting angry with your leadership. I see what the right says and realize it’s mostly garbage and I ignore it but then I see you giving them fresh jugs of gasoline to pour over those smoldering embers and it enrages me when they are right.
Mr. Obama…I think that you have goofed plain and simple.
I voted for you because I am tired of seeing this nation sold part and parcel to the highest bidder. I am appalled that our taxpayer paid infrastructure is being sold to foreign multinationals because the right believes that everything has to generate an income and I have not seen your transportation department nor any other department saying anything to the contrary.
I voted for you because I mistakenly believed you wanted change. What I am seeing is a continuation of Bush policies. I see high gas prices being pushed higher because your agenda is calling for it. I see no punishment for oil companies who artificially inflate prices by reducing production. What I do see is you sticking your hand in my wallet to pay to drive to work, pay more to my bank, and basically pay more to simply exist.
Mr. Obama, in case you haven’t seen it, people out here are hurting badly. Families are not able to give their kids new shoes for school because your policies are punishing them for being responsible citizens.
Want proof of that? Look no further than the banks that you and President Bush claimed needed to be saved. I am a good customer, I have a solid credit score and always pay on time. What reward do I get? Higher fees, higher interest rates, more paperwork and headaches because your administration reinforced the notion that these companies needed to survive. You should have let them die.
There was a reason why our grandparents, yours too I imagine, who survived the Great Depression had a dislike and fear of banks and investment firms. They exist to placate an insatiable greed that obviously can never be placated.
Mr. Obama…you have let me down and what choice am I going to have in 2012? I have the option of supporting you and punishing myself further or supporting the right and their determination to terminate our Constitutional liberties and replace them with a fee based service which does not seem that far off from where your administration seems to be taking us now. Make no mistake about it…we, as Americans, have no choice anymore. Bill Maher put it best when he said that the Democrats are now the center right and the Republicans are insane.
Maher says about the right thinking that he was switching to their side, ”I was criticizing Obama for not being hard enough on the corporate douchebags you live to defend.” He continues, ” I don’t want to be on your team” and I think that’s the heart of my argument Sir.
I cannot defend the right’s idea of a pay as you go America. With the right, every single aspect of life will have a cost on it. No more free beaches or protected lands. Every square inch of space needs to be producing maximum income. Animals, birds, insects, worms, fish do no create an income by existing so they have no say in the matter and they will get displaced and forced to die out.
You are being too soft on corporations and too hard on the people who got you elected. I do not see any programs that help me. I see some that may help the poor folks in my old neighborhood which is needed but what about for the guy like me who busted his tail to get out that gang-riddled, crime filled, drug plagued hell that my parents still call home.
Drug dealers and gang leaders still live there. They still force senior citizens to live in terror and fear and the local law enforcement will no longer pursue them because the judicial system will make deals with this scum and let them back out on the streets to terrorize again and exact revenge on those who landed them in jail in the first place.
To get out of that place, I sometimes worked two or three jobs while putting myself through school fulltime. I have a decent job with decent pay but that’s it. I don’t want anyone to give me anything but I do want you to get out of my way and let me live my life in peace. I have most of what I want. I do not want millions of dollars and the associated headaches that come with it.
I have always wanted a pickup, a house, and someone to share it with. I have that so why is your administration bent on finding ways to make me pay more for my middleclass lifestyle. In short, we are about to be taxed for merely existing.
We’re in the middle of an economic crisis and I do not mind my taxes going up if it means I get more services or it provides assistance to keep a family from starving but it stops there.
I do object when your FDA regulates Tylenol because some idiot takes 10 at a time with scotch or vodka and has liver problems. I do object when this same group treats me like a terrorist because I simply want some over the counter cold medication that works.
I do object when your FCC tells us to pay $50 for an antenna to watch “free” television. In 1994 the right came up with a Contract on America which had as one of its legs, no more unfunded mandates. Make that the law for everything. Do not sign any bill that will cause American taxpayers/consumers from paying more because of a law. If you want us to change things, provide them.
I do object when your Interior Department wants to restrict land use so that farmers are behind an 8-ball to the corporate welfare farms.
I do object when you sign into law legislation that raises the cost of me driving the only vehicle I have ever wanted since I was 8 because you are too scared to punish companies who put wealth before patriotism.
And finally…I do object…when your Housing department implements Section 8 policies that put drug dealers and thugs into neighborhoods where good honest innocent people live and hold an entire community hostage. Where is your outrage sir? If your grandmother were alive, would you want her to live in those conditions? Why should my family or anyone else’s family be forced to live next door to thugs who poison dogs, destroy property, and do so with immunity.
Sir..I have a lot more that you are doing that angers me but I know you are a busy man as am I. I have to earn more money to pay a bank that raised my credit card interest rates, an insurance company that will find excuses on how to get out of paying out what they sold me coverage for, and a mortgage that won’t let me refinance because I make too much money…which I guess is a lot to some people but not to me.
Good day to you Sir.
Sincerely,
John A. Champion
06.26
09
by jachamp ·
Tonight the 70’s died.
Farrah Fawcett, who was the target of many teen boys during that time period, lost her long battle against cancer. Anyone who knows me knows of my hatred for that disease. Cancer took my grandmother and it has taken the lives of millions who suffered long and horribly.
Then there is the unexpected passing of Michael Jackson. He died from cardiac arrest. I learned today that 300,000 people a year die this way. Your heart just stops. Drugs could cause it as could countless other causes. Trying to figure out what killed the so-called King of Pop is a job best left for the Los Angeles County coroner. He was the music of the 70’s just like Farrah was the sex-symbol.
It would be too easy for me to speak ill of Michael and his alleged problems. I say alleged because I don’t know why he was the way he was and that’s not any of my concern.
But for thousands upon thousands of others all across the globe, it is a day of mourning too because someone close to them has also passed away. As my friend Father Ram says, they need our thoughts and prayers too.
But here’s the thing I want everyone to take away from today…the next time you do something, hug your child, listen to your favorite cd, or ride your bike could be the last time you ever do that thing. The tired sayings are really true…anyday could be your last and life is too short. Forgive that person who slighted you. Take the time to listen to someone who needs someone to talk to, do the right thing everytime. While Farrah has sufficient notice that today would be her last. Michael Jackson probably woke up this morning with no clue. I hope he was able to make peace with the Lord before his passing and I hope he was able to let his kids know that he loved them because once your life is over, it’s over.
So tonight and maybe this weekend, I’m asking you to spend a second to think about someone who has passed on and to ask the Lord, or whomever you believe in, to save the deceased from any negatives in the next life. I believe in Heaven and Hell so I will spend my time asking for the salvation of those souls dear to me, like my Grandparents, my Uncles, my cousin, and some dear deceased friends.
I hope that something good can come from the deaths of these two icons and allow us to move away from the shallowness and selfishness that we experienced during the heyday of these two.
06.13
09
by jachamp ·
Over the next couple of days/posts, I intend to review and post images of our recent cruise from Los Angeles to nowhere near Mexico which is where we were supposed to go. I am just kidding. We enjoyed San Francisco, Seattle, and Victoria, British Columbia very much. For those of you who are new to cruising, let me tell you this now. Cruises are an opportunity to get away from it all, take your hotel with you from place to place, and enjoy a lot of food in the process. Depending on your ship and your destination, you may find yourself in similar or totally different circumstances.
Day 1 — Boarding in the Port of Los Angeles. We got onboard our ship in San Pedro (they pronounce it San PEE-droh in California, those of us South Texans know better). The ship was Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas. It’s a member of the Voyager class of ships. About five years ago, this monster was one of the largest cruise vessels on earth.
Here’s a photo to give you some idea of its size:
RCCL Mariner dwarfs a big rig
We boarded the ship around lunch time, made a beeline for the first lunch buffet and then wondered back to our room to wait for the luggage. And brother..this is some luggage. Please note the forklifts that are in these shots and how they are swallowed by the volume of suitcases awaiting loading.
Ann Reeder wonders if our luggage is in that pile
The six foot deep football field long stack of luggage
Waiting on luggage was a nightmare and from the shots above you can see why. I actually was able to find ours around 4pm in a pile of luggage crewmembers were sorting out on the same floor. Here is some advice to make spotting your luggage easier in a traffic jam like this….make it different; add polka dots, shiny paint, some people tied giant ribbons or bows around them. Whatever you do, do not try to take onboard solid black luggage with no easily identifying marks like we did. And we’re old hands at this….
Once we got our cabin settled, the next step, was also very important, finding out what was where. We did some sightseeing. I mean the boat is still boarding passengers and you are not going anywhere. So you might as well explore your surroundings. Another note for you…ship’s stores and the casino and some facilities are bound by law to close while in port. So if you forgot your toothbrush or nail clippers, you will have to wait until the ship is in International waters before you can purchase anything from those stores and it all goes on your SeaPass, or as Ann and I call it, the Sea Bass.
The Sea Pass is basically a card that acts as your room key as well as a ship credit card. You don’t need any money on board. Well..you need cash in the casino but you can draw it out against your Sea Pass account.
Anyhow, we got settled in for the trip, took a nice walk about the ship and then at 6pm, we joined our tablemates for our first dinner. We attended the show but we were both so tired from the travel, the packing, and the getting settled that we both were falling asleep during the lame attempts at humor the second comedian was trying to pull off.
Knock knock?
Who’s there?
Not funny
Not funny who?
No seriously..I’m not funny.
05.20
09
by jachamp ·
In trying to criticize credit card companies, banks, and their actions, the Atlantic magazine takes the position that if you have two brothers, one responsible and the other irresponsible, that it’s okay to lend them money provided you charge them more for it. I would argue that if you have an irresponsible person like this before you asking for money, you do not give it to them.
- They do not have the ability to pay it back
- Paying it back will provide a hardship
- This would violate the notion of usuary.
You know..this country used to have usuary laws that prohibited the use of interest in calculating loan repayments. I have no problem with charging someone money for loaning them money as a deterrent to them borrowing but it needs to be stated upfront. As in, “you are buying this $150,000 home and over the thirty years, your $1000/month payments will pay us $360,000 for this $150,000 home.”
This should be the first thing stated in large bold print before you get to any other detail. Credit cards…I don’t know where to start on those. They are similar to student loans. They are bad and the people providing them are even worse.
Personally I would like to see all lending companies under such strict regulation that it would be so cost prohibitive to take out a loan, that no one would do it. That would solve a lot of this nation’s problems.
05.19
09
by jachamp ·
In the mid-80’s Chrysler sought, and received help, from the the Federal Government because it was about to crash and burn. Lee Iaococa was given credit when the new Chrysler, led by the K-car, took off like a Phoenix from the Ashes. I still remember seeing friends in high school driving to our graduation on May 26, 1983 in the Lebaron Convertible down Ocean Dr. with the top down. It was a spectacle.
Fast forward 26 years and Chrysler is not doing so good. They have filed for bankruptcy and they are on the verge of simply being a part of history. We can argue about how Chrysler got to this point but that’s not relevent to me.
What is relevent is their monsterous goof they made in deciding to terminate relationships with dealerships. Dealerships with employees and families and customers that helped rebuild them once before.
I live in sunny San Antonio, TX. We have five Chrysler Dodge dealers here in town, Fiesta, Ancira, Ingram Park, Lonestar (formerly Mission), and if you consider New Braunfels part of San Antonio, Bluebonnet. Of these five dealerships one Fiesta is being closed. However, more than 60 miles away in Fredericksburg, That town’s lone Dodge dealer is being closed.
Nothing can be more devastating to a small community than to have its town’s supporter of the local community close down. These dealerships support youth sports, pageants, scholarships, and countless other fund raisers. Their employees keep open the local mom and pop hardware and grocery stores. They are the lifeblood to any community and that is not even considering the inconvenience of what happens to the local citizens when their vehicle needs repairs (and trust me..if it’s a Chrysler made after 1974, it will need to be repaired…often).
Chrysler’s demise, while predictable, left the most vulnerable communities reeling further in soon to be higher unemployment numbers. These are jobs and incomes that are hard to come by for these towns. Every facet of these communities get impacted by these decisions however…had Chrysler used their heads instead of a computer, they would have found that they could close three San Antonio dealers, left two behind and still had more than enough sales for the area.
San Antonio is a large enough community that it can handle those dealerships closing.
Don’t get me wrong..I’m saying that Chrysler and other companies should use their heads. Small town people are loyal to those people and companies that are loyal to them. Chrysler is now turning its back on small town America and I suspect that this may be the insult that turns those Dodge truck drivers to Chevy, Ford, Toyota, or some other brand that does have a vested interest in staying in those communities.
GM is next to announce the dealerships it is closing…let’s hope it does so with a lot more sense than Chrysler did.
05.8
09
by jachamp ·
In 1983, a part timer’s paycheck of $120 could pay the tuition for an entire semester and the next check could buy his textbooks. Today, it’s an entirely different story. According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups, (US PIRG), a college student today will spend close to $1000 per academic year on textbooks. Some texts for math and science can easily hit $300.
So now the folks behind the Kindle (an electronic book reader) have come out with a plan to push college textbooks to it. This would be a good idea if it meant that the cost of textbooks were to come down to a more reasonable level. But what I suspect will happen is that this will begin the march towards having books with DRM and killing our information based society.
Since Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea of a public library in the late 1700’s, we have been a society that has always felt that information was crucial to the development of our youth and to the betterment of our culture and access to that information should be free.
This curs right at heart of how our country has grown. This battle over copyrights and who pays who and how much they get paid is spilling over into academia and that may be appropriate considering that is where this battle first began on all fronts.
The concept of saving trees by using electronic paper is admirable but there needs to be protections so that all can have access to the information within those documents. The very concept of a student paying $200 for access to a textbook that they can only view on a device with an 18 month lifespan.
There will be no personal library of books sitting on a shelf to loan to friends or to reference in years gone by. There will be no more handing down of knowledge as there has been in the past.
If we look back at our academic heritage, we all have seen or even read our grandparents’ old textbooks to see how things have changed. It was my Grandfather’s old books on electricity and electronics that helped make me into the geek that I am. So imagine what our grandkids will have to look forward to?
“Here son, this was your grandfather’s kindle. It doesn’t hold a charge any more, you cannot buy batteries from it and the server that licenses these works and allows you to view them has long been out of commission but see what you can do.”
Allowing electronic media to serve as textbooks at the current book prices is a complete and total disservice to academia and to the students who used these books as reference material.
04.27
09
by jachamp ·
A recent story on CNN indicates that the reason why GM’s number 3 selling car line, Pontiac, had to go had nothing to do with sales. It had nothing to do with workers but what it did have to do with is profitability. I think I know why that line is not profitable.
Allow me to introduce you to Ann’s 2007 Pontiac G6 Convertible. We purchased this vehicle in August of 2007 as a lease and we purchased extended mileage and an extended warranty to match the mileage, 45,000 miles.
Well it’s been 20 months with the vehicle and it has been in the shop 15 times. It has been through six new convertible tops (this is a hard top convertible) that I know of. That care is in the shop ever six weeks on average and it stays in the shop on average three days.
During these three days, Pontiac/GM puts Ann into a rental car. If we take the time to multiply the average car rental for the 45-50 days she has been in a rental car during the duration of her lease so far, we can see that there is about $650 worth of car rental fees and if you add to that the six tops, the $125/hour in labor for 45-50 days, I think a picture begins to form of how much money it has cost Pontiac for the repairs to this one vehicle.
Since we all know that the reliability of Pontiac’s car have been suspect since the mid-70’s, then we know the real reason that division has been hemmoraging money. I remember my father bringing home a Pontiac when I was ten for the weekend. I opened the door to get out of the car and was customary for this ten year old kid, I pushed the door closed with my hand on the handle and my thumb down on the door lock mechanism to make sure it locked. I did not use much power to close it because I was 10! and I did not have much strength to close it with and so I put a deep dent in the car door around where the door handle was situated.
Fast forward 10 years and I’m selling cars at my father’s Pontiac dealership. People would come on to the lot, one after another, asking about Pontiac Grand-Ams. I knew how bad that car’s motor and transmission was and my first walk with the customers was to the holding area behind the repair center. I would point out that vast number of Grand Ams that sat back there and then would push the customer on to another vehicle. I sold more Grand Prix’s and Bonneville’s that way.
So now we have a Pontiac, but it’s not the car that I grew up knowing all about; the 57 Skychief and the 64 Bonneville that my father had both had that signature Indian head highbeam indicator and how much fun they were to drive/ride in. Nope…I have a 2007 G6 (replacement for the Grand Am) convertible and while the car’s motor and transmission are rock solid, the top, the most important part of a convertible, is all fouled up and the area representative for GM has decided that there is nothing wrong with it and we are stuck with it even though it qualifies for a lemon law buyback.
So it’s their sloppy workmanship and designs of these cars that did Pontiac in. It was not the boring designs. It was not the fact that a Pontiac was nothing more than a relabeled Chevrolet and priced a couple of grand higher but it was still cheaper than the same car with a Cadillac label but still the same thing as the Chevrolet.
Heh…I still remember the Pontiac Sunbird being the same car as the Chevrolet Cavalier, Cadillac Cimmaron, and Buick Skyhawk and the only difference was the label but for some reason..I seem to recall the Sunbirds spending more time in the shop than on the road than the other branded cars with the same stripe.
So there you have it…my guess as to why Pontiac is going away. It’s sad. It’s been a part of my life since I was a toddler and my father used to bring me home little Pontiac GTO convertibles from his dealership and I really hate to see it go away but after owning one and getting the response that I’ve received from GM, I understand why.
04.8
09
by jachamp ·
Now we all know that as photographers we have to jump through hoops and hurdles to get the right shot. We have to wait numerous cycles for the breeze to unfurl a flag just right or for the child’s eye’s to give that “plugged in and lit up” look.
Sometimes, we have to sign forms stating that we know we’re walking into a dangerous area and that we won’t sue the owner of the facility/property if we get hurt. Well it’s become that time of year in Texas where wildflower shots are readily available.
There are hundreds of free places to get these shots…like IH10 just outside of Seguin on the way to Houston. There are tons of locations around San Antonio too. But the places that I want to hit are the places that are forbidden unless you have the wallet for it.
Take for instance, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. It’s a gorgeous place filled with the beauty of wildflowers year round. They charge you to access the facility if you want to look but if you pack a camera, look out. You can be slapped with an $100/day camera fee.
There is a new canyon at Canyon Lake and it has some awesome views as well. If you want to walk down that trail, you have to hire a guide and you have to also pay a fee. Combined, it can also run you about $100 and that includes LIMITED access to the area.
So please take this warning. If you are going to a favorite location and plan on taking your camera to capture some of the beauty, you better pack your credit card or a lockbox for your camera because cash strapped facilities are looking for new and better ways to generate revenue and our love of nature’s raw beauty and power is going to cost us.
03.26
09
by jachamp ·
Dear former AIG Vice President,
So you quit. Big Deal! I read and reread the opinion piece in the New York Times where you slam your boss, slam the way you feel you’ve been treated, and talk about wanting to donate your money to some cause.
Let us get one thing straight…this isn’t all about you. Your letter vocalizes what is wrong with this country, you feel you are entitled to something that was never yours to begin with. You stayed and worked at a job that paid you $1? I’ll bet I know why and it has nothing to do with devotion to the company. So…how is that our problem? Why are we, the taxpayers, expected to sit here and let you buy your new boat with our money when we are struggling to keep a roof over our heads?
We, the taxpayers, paid your bonus. We the taxpayers, bailed out your company , and we the taxpayers are going to be left holding the bag from the mess you and your compatriots left behind that you feel so wonderful about.
There is no reason to feel proud for a company who’s claim to fame is the destruction of the American economy. Be proud Mr. Desantis because AIG, the company you worked for, was able to do what the 9-11 hijackers tried and failed to do; and that was to destroy our economy. Your company created financial products that were created on thin ice and you knew the risk to the whole economy and took it anyway.
Today, I know you are being hailed by the right as a hero but a hero is not selfish. A hero does not drone on and on about how much they had to suffer. A hero is not greedy and does not think that anyone owes him anything.
If you stayed because of some heartfelt obligation to AIG, you are a fool. There are millions of distraught Americans who put the same level of effort and loyalty towards their employers and they lost their jobs because that loyalty was misplaced and not returned. They left their jobs broke and had to argue with their local unemployment insurance dispenser for the measely $350/week maximum they are allowed to have in unemployment insurance.
They are having to struggle with that measely amount and you’re complaining about working for $1. If you truly were existing on $1, then you had to have an income coming in from somewhere else and it was probably from some activity you would rather the taxpayers not know about.
The one thing that has always amazed me is that no matter how bad things get for us, the taxpayers, the wealthy still have people on their side saying that the wealthy got that way through hard work. Wake up people…the wealthy got that way by getting you to part with your money and by letting them keep theirs. Take a look at the millions the wealthy spend avoiding taxes. If you think the wealthy are patriotic for avoiding having to pay their fair share, please share your reasoning with me.
I want to see Mr. DeSantis’ contribution to this nation. I want to see which military unit his children serve in. I want to know if he paid at the very least, the same percentage of his income in taxes that I did or that my elderly parents did.
Mr. DeSantis looks at the taxpayers and he sees people he does not want to socialize with; he sees people he does not like nor admire. He sees us as nothing more than a piggy bank with funds that he can play with. He and the others at AIG have an almost sociopathic disdain for the American taxpayer and the citizen and it explains why they got into the insurance business to begin with.
Insurance is the worst ethically lapsed industry in this country in my opinion.
And the GOP defends insurers and their ilk. To me, the GOP will always be a party for the rich and powerful and they can afford the best PR to manipulate messages and twist things around to make it seem like anyone can be like them. It’s a lie…no one can ever be like them and if you live and honest and pure life you wouldn’t want to be like them.
