Gone Phishing

Scam artists have been phishing via email for some time now with all sorts of scenarios to trick you out of your private information. And unfortunately, a large enough percentage of people still bite on these lures making it profitable for the scammers to keep trying.

It needs to be remembered that any site you are registered with will not email you and ask you for your username or password. And any email they do send you will usually address you by name: info that phishers could not possibly have.

Recently I had an incident with the phishers other tactic. They call you on the phone if you are listed in the book and try to get info from you. The automated caller claimed to be with MasterCard and told me my rates were about to change and to press 9 to speak with a rep who would explain it all to me. It pains me to think that some percentage of people are naive enough to fall for this. First: I have more than one card with different banks whose rates are different and set by each bank. Second: any changes to your rates will be mailed to you with your monthly statement well in advance. They will not waste time and money with the phone unless there is a serious problem with your account. I was tempted to talk to this rep and see just how much bullshit I could lay on them before they hung up in disgust but it was late in the evening and I had other fish to fry.

All I can say is that if anyone calls you or emails you for your info tell them nothing. The only time you will need to give them your info is if you contact them first through their website or call the phone number on the back of your card and not some link in an email or a phone call from them. If one of your accounts should call you they will address you by name and tell you a portion of your account number once you identify yourself.

So be aware and be safe.

It Ain't Art - It's Fraud!

Today, I happened across an art book that ticked me off. On it, displayed as high art were a bunch of old weathered timbers bolted together at right angles with a few old bolts and metal plates and it was called art. I call it firewood. And then there was that bolder. You're not going to take ten pounds of clay and shape it into a pile of dried dog poop left out in the rain, cast it in bronze ten times it's original size, plunk it on a slab of concrete in some metropolitan park and make me believe it's art. Or better still, take a few condiment squeeze bottles, fill them with paint, squirt them all over a six foot by ten foot canvas and call it art. And then have the balls to place a five million dollar price tag on it.

Who do you gotta sleep with to get that kind of deal?

Give me a good renaissance painter any day. These artisans knew how to make fine art. Their paintings looked exactly like what they were depicting. There was no guesswork there. You didn't have to stand there staring at the canvas for hours trying to figure out what the hell was this guy thinking. Even Warhol's op art looked like something even if it did make your eyes cross at times.

I've painted landscapes and done artwork for comic books and believe me I haven't earned enough to buy the local professional ball club. Then again, I haven't been dead for 300 years yet.

Maybe I'll try inventing a new style. I'll take several different colors of paint and pump them up my ass and then fart all over a canvas. Now all I need is to think of what to call it.

Have a great day.

Social Security

As a baby boomer I am rapidly closing in on the time when I will want to file for my Social Security. Whether I'll be able to retire and enjoy my leisure is another question.

It's been speculated many times that SS will likely be broke by then and Congress has not formulated a better plan to save it. I, on the other hand, have had the answer for some time. It's quite simple... cancel all Congressional pensions!

If they have to live on their SS as so many of us poor schmucks will have to do they'll fix the system in a big hurry.

Then too, most of them are lawyers and will likely get some high paying job once they're voted out of office. A job that will likely have a large pension attached to it when the time comes so they won't need their SS anyway. But you know the greedy group will apply for it anyway just so the rest of us can't get it first..

There also is another issue that is happening right now. The current administration wants to cut back on funding for medical care for children of low income families. Why? Most likely it is because the war in the Middle East is costing so much that they have to cut back on something. Who cares if hundreds of sick children die so long as we keep funding a senseless war where we're killing so many young adults. They get to cut back on the surplus population even faster. This has also prompted several states to sue the Bush administration to get the funding restored.

Get the tar and feathers ready, folks.

Justice League

Well, it looks like we may get the promised Justice League movie yet. They're still nailing down the cast and have said they want to announce the entire lineup all at once when it is set. But secrets are fleeting and it had been revealed that Jessica Biel would play Wonder Woman but three days later she was reported to have said no thanks. My two favorite choices would be Milena Govich recently off of Law & Order or Kate Beckensale.

The rest of the lineup include the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter. Superman and Batman are also listed but Brandon Routh and Christian Bale will not be playing their respective roles. Christian Bale has just finish filming The Dark Knight and likely is looking for some time off. Brandon Routh has not done much lately so only the studio knows why he's not on board. My choice for Superman is obvious; offer it to Tom Welling who has been playing the young Clark Kent in "Smallville" now in it's seventh season. Oddly enough, Welling, who plays the young Superman to be, is older than Routh who played the older version.

I haven't made up my mind who should play the other heroes but if anyone who reads this has any suggestions let me know with a comment.

The villain should, in my estimation, be some otherworldly supercreature; something quite huge and powerful that would require an entire team of heroes to defeat it.