I am getting tired of hearing the stupidity that comes out of Harry Reid’s mouth. This little man is so extremely partisan and obstructive that he is eroding the ability of America to get things done. This jackass declared that the war was lost long ago and has shown no support whatsoever for the American military or its mission because he suffers from Bush Derangement Syndrome. He is so full of hatred for President Bush that he will ruin this country before he would play like part of the team. I have had enough of this squirt so it is time for me to unload both barrels into this maggot.

Harry Reid is a festering pustule that oozes sanguineous fluid like lava from a mountain because he is an infection in the Senate. Reid stated that the plan put forth by General Petraeus was unacceptable. It might actually seem like Reid (or any other Democrats that has been bashing the General) came to that conclusion after listening to what the man had to say. Instead, he and his minions in the media had their minds made up a month ago when good news was coming from Iraq with regard to the surge. The Democrats went into attack mode so they could discredit the General and the report before it was ever delivered. Reid has no idea about the issues because all this little piss ant knows how to do is run and hide. For a man who used to be a boxer he sure lacks courage as he attacks this war hero by using the media to bash him.

Harry Reid has now vowed that Ted Olson will will not get the confirmation of the Senate because Reid thinks he is too partisan. The article discusses how Reid will insure that Olson (assuming he is nominated) will be blocked and it discusses finding someone acceptable to the Democrats. I have news for you Harry Reid you piece of maggot infested rotting jackass meat, the president is not obligated to pick someone acceptable to you, the Democrats or anyone else. Your job is to give an up or down vote on the nominee and nothing else. The Attorney General is appointed by the president and serves at the convenience of the president. If he served at the convenience of the Senate or the Democrats or anyone else then those entities would be the one to select him and appoint him.

You should not be deciding who will or who will not be the AG or have any say, other than up or down, on any presidential nominee. The Republicans must be plain stupid because they approve the nominees of Democratic presidents without much objection but they always let you jackasses screw then when it comes time to approve for a Republican.

Harry Reid, I am tired of your treasonous behavior and your disregard for my country. I am tired of the way you talk about the troops and the president and anyone else with whom you disagree. I excused a lot of your behavior in the past because I assumed that you suffered brain damage to that little walnut that occupies your cerebral cavity. I am convinced that you are just an idiot and the stroke did little damage because you had few brains to begin with. You should be taken out back of the Capitol and shot for treason. But that is too easy for you. If I had my way you would be bound and gagged and airdropped in the middle of a terrorist training camp so that you could experience first hand what the evil that we face.

You are not a man, you are a puke, you are not a human being. You are a sub human life form that sucks scum out of the bottom of the garbage can and you are a festering sore on the butt of America. You are a poor excuse for a leader and you should be removed from your position immediately and replaced with a button that does absolutely nothing more efficiently. You only get away with your games because you are in the Senate and you think you are a privileged individual. You know that you would not make it in the real world. I can promise you that if you worked with me and ran your mouth I would kick your ass from one side of the street to the other and then kick it back for good measure. Then I would smack the hell out of you for good measure just because you are a puss filled scum bucket that is so full of crap that your eyes are brown and your burps smell like farts.

It is too bad that six years ago you were not visiting the Pentagon or on a plane heading west. Maybe you can have a Kennedy drive you or fly you next time.

The Democratic party likes for people to believe that they are the idea party. That might have some validity in that they have ideas but they are all old and stale. They recycle tax increases, environment, and for the children in everything they do. They have been working for six years to come up with some kind of make over to show America what they are all about. It amounts to nothing more than a new facade on ideas.

During the last Presidential election John Kerry had a plan for everything. What ever he thought Bush and the Republicans were doing wrong he had a plan to fix. Unfortunately, he was never quite able to get past saying he had a plan rather than actually elaborating on the ideas and merits of the plan. The Democrats have been working for the last year to give America their plans, to tell us why they are different, to tell us they have a plan. Unfortunately, they are still at the saying phase and not actually at the elaborating phase. Why is this? Perhaps it is because they do not have any new ideas. They have the same old tired ideas that has cost them past elections.

Tax payers are tired of tax upon tax. Employers are tired of being told exactly how much they have to spend for health insurance, wages and every other thing. Citizens are tired of social program after social program that produce few results an yet spend more and more money. People are tired of blind support for organizations like the ACLU. They are tired of paying tax money for organizations designed to bring down the American culture.

Why this rant about Democrats and new ideas? Well, they keep telling us they are the idea party. They always have a plan and an idea. So when the Democratic Senatorial Committee put up a website did they pop up with a new idea? No, they copied the format of the Drudge Report and called it the Fudge Report. The purpose of the site is to expose the things Republicans will do to get elected. Let us forget that folly and stick to the point and that is even when they put up a website the moonbats can not come up with something fresh and new. They had to play off the work of someone else and use someone else’s OLD idea. This is the party of ideas.

Does this make you feel more comfortable with the people who have a plan? I have an old idea, let’s not vote for them.

BTW, the site uses misleading headlines. Basically, they lie about what is in the news. More on that later.

It now appears that the bodies found were indeed those of the two soldiers who were abducted last week. Reports indicate that they were killed in a barbaric way and that they had been tortured. A message released from the bastards who did this reads:

“We give the good news … to the Islamic nation that we have carried God’s verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders”

We need to let this act serve as notice that we will no longer take prisoners. When we are in the triangle of death and are approached we need to shoot first and count bodies later. We need to play by rules that these animals understand. They do not follow the law of land warfare and they laugh at the fact that we treat people humanely and the only reason they accuse us of all this so called torture is that they know it gets a rise from the bleeding hearts and the cowards like John Murtha.

We need to adjust our tactics to include any person who is carrying a weapon and any person who does not listen to instructions. If a car speeds to a checkpoint or fails to stop then the response needs to be to open fire and kill the possible threat. I do not give a rat’s ass about their so-called civil rights and their feelings. I do not care if they like us there or not. The act of war requires a military to exact its will on the enemy. We need to exact our will on every single towel headed terrorist who does not listen to our commands or who acts suspiciously. If they want to see carnage then they will get it.

Haditha? Screw that. All Marines should be released and allowed to go back and fight. I want them leading the assaults on the terrorists. We need to adopt the words of the President to the prosecution of the war. We will make no distinction between the terrorists or those who harbor them. You are either with us or against us. This means if you allow the terrorists in you town or your house then you are fair game and when we bomb your asses further back into the stone-age it will be your fault. If we find out you knew the terrorists were there and did not tell us you will be lined up and executed.

Now, that is the way to prosecute a war. We need to stop playing around and start instilling fear in these little sand fleas. It won’t happen because of all the moonbats and others who think we can hold hands with these punks and all just get along.

I can say this much, now that I have vented, I would not want to be the bastards who did this when the military catches up with them. There will be no prisoners. They will get slaughtered. They should read the history of the Alamo. The way the Mexicans got their asses handed to them after they attacked the Alamo will look like a Sunday picnic compared to what our angry troops will do to these towel headed terrorists.

Source: Breitbart

I have, from time to time, provided a rant about the people who travel using commercial airlines. Most of them are inconsiderate jerks who refuse to check their luggage and are always blabbing on their cell phones. I am surprised more people are not shot at airports by air marshals just for being inconsiderate jackasses.

Now we get to my feelings about drivers. Driving is dangerous enough without all the stupid people who think the road belongs to them. I was out doing some Christmas shopping on Saturday and on my way home there was a sign that read “Right lane closed, merge left” I, being an observant driver moved left even though I could not see an end to the right lane and I had a long unobstructed view.

Most people moved over. Now we get to the inconsiderate idiots. These are the people who see the sign yet they stay in the right lane so they can pass everyone and then pull in front of all of them at the last minute. Some of the people even pulled out of the left lane and passed everyone even though they knew they were supposed to merge left! When this happens, the traffic is held up longer because the people who moved over have to keep stopping to let the inconsiderate jerks in. If everyone merged when they read the sign, traffic could proceed without all the stopping and starting.

The problem is, all the people who passed figured they were more important than the folks who moved over. They were too important to get in line like the rest of us. They are like the people who will not check their luggage because they are too important to wait for it at the other end. Anyway, one jerk (I saw him in my mirror) zipped out of the left lane and into the right just as the right lane ended. He zoomed past 4 cars and zipped in front of me and nearly clipped the front of my Jeep. I blew the horn and let him know he was number one. I was hot that this jackass could not wait for four more cars and was so important that he nearly hit me.

I am pretty sure if he had hit me I would have accelerated and pushed him into the ditch. He deserved to be wrapped around a pole.

Friday it snowed here. This is bad news because people who can not drive in the snow attempt to do so. I traveled the Interstate and there were cars going 20mph and SUVs going 70mph. Some SUVs were speeding up and slowing down and some jackasses were passing in the lanes that had not been plowed. There were several cars in ditches and strewn across the median. Why is it that people go out in the snow and drive like it is a Summer day? I left 40 minutes earlier than I usually do so I could drop my wife off on the way and I still made it in plenty of time though I was nearly creamed by a guy driving an SUV in the unplowed lane who decided he needed to occupy the space I was in and at the same time.

Inconsiderate drivers suck as much as inconsiderate travelers and I am beginning to understand why some people suffer from road rage. I wish parents taught their children manners and consideration like they did when I was a kid.

I happen to be a football fan and though I like my team to win, I can accept when they lose. What I can not accept is when the officials screw things up so badly that a team suffers. Mike Carey, the referee in today’s Ravens-Lions game was terrible. He blew an incomplete pass call and ruled it a fumble. This led to a Lions score, one they should not have had. In addition, this idiot had an instant replay to correct his mistake and he still got it wrong. He and his crew made a lot of bad calls and the frequency increased when he was inadvertently bumped by a player. A defenseman from Baltimore made a clean hit on the quarterback just as he was releasing the ball. They called it unnecessary roughness (and what is necessary roughness). When the defensive player went to say something to the Carey his face mask might have brushed him. Replays on TV were inconclusive but one thing is for sure, there was no INTENTIONAL contact.

Mike Carey has been a horrible referee since he has been in the league. It seems that every week he and his crew blow call after call. People pay a lot of money to see these games and they expect that the people officiating them will be somewhat competent. After the bumping incident it was obvious the referees were calling penalties for BS things. It appeared to me that after the “bumping” incident, Carey was determined to make the Ravens pay. He influenced that game and any referee who intentionally influences a game does not belong in the league. He is a poor excuse for an official.

I realize that I am biased because my team was effected. I will say that Brian Billick, the Ravens coach, made a comment about officiating several years ago and they have never given him a break since. I have always maintained that most officials are pretty good and get it right most of the time. Most of them will use replay to make sure the call is right. Carey, on the other hand, is a boob who has this problem with his manhood so he decides that he needs to exert his authority to smack down the players. I personally wish that contact had been a little harder and knocked that jackass out of the game. Then he could be replaced with someone who actually know what is going on. Though in that crew it would have been difficult to get someone who fit that bill. All of them were blowing call after call. They gave the Lions a touchdown when it was clear he did not cross the goal line. The replay did not show that he made it across and the ref who made the call did not make it until he ran across the field to look. It is evident that he did not see it cross.

Anyway, I do not usually write about football because this is not a sports blog. But after seeing the poor excuse for officiating that took place in Michigan today, I had to write about the dumb ass Mike Carey and his officiating crew. I might just make this a weekly thing to point out his incompetence. Until then, here are some other instances of the incompetence of Carey and his crew.

Seahawks

There is an article out that discusses how people are not happy with inconsiderate cell phone users. I have posted about this a number of times in the past and I think everyone knows how I feel about the rude people who permeate our society. Latest numbers show that about 66% of people have a cell phone so it is not hard to figure that they are everywhere.

The problem is that when you get more people with phones you get more people who can display their lack of manners. You will have people who discuss things on the phone in such a loud voice that everyone can hear them. They will keep the phone on during movies, plays, concerts, weddings, and yes, even funerals. I personally think that no one is so important that a call can not wait but there are still people who will walk out of their office building and then call back on their cell phone. I guess they figure the entie corporate structure changed while they were walking outside.

And how about people talking on them while driving? These have got to be the most inattentive and dangerous people in the world. I do not know how many times I have been driving and someone has encroached into my lane or has been driving slow and holding up traffic and when I finally passed them they were yacking on a cell phone. I was driving to Birmingham Alabama and all the traffic in the right lane began to slow and move into the left lane. I figured that there must have been an accident. When I got closer it was because a car was driving about 30 mph. When I passed him the guy had his hands over the steering wheel typing a message into a Blackberry. Someone should have run him off the road. Recently there was a man severley injured when a driver was distracted because of her cell phone. I think if they can put breathalizers in cars for people who have had a DUI (the kind that will not let the car start until the driver blows into it and there is no alcohol) they should be able to put a cell phone signal jammer in the car of any person who causes an accident or gets tickets for impeding traffic while using a cell phone. The cops are big into putting tracking chips in car license plates (an invasion of privacy as far as I’m concerned) but this would be one place I think it would serve a useful purpose. People with cell phone infractions could get a restriction on their license and a chip with the restriction imbedded in the license plate. Then when a cop sees them yacking on the phone he could hit a button to check for a restriction chip. If it is there do not pass go do not collect $200.

And now to my favorite part, air travel. Cell phone companies are lobbying the FAA to allow cell phone use on planes. This is a disaster in the making. People already use cell phones prior to and after landing. This is the time when we find out people do not realize cell phones work even if you do not shout into them. It is a time when people are trying to get settled in and you always have several jackasses who talk and block the aisle. It is already bad enough you are squished into a plane but if I had to spend 3 or 4 hours next to some jerk talking on a cell phone I would probably beat him senseless (Or just keep talking to him while he is on the phone). If the airlines thinks they have problems now with air rage because of all the security measures wait until they let people use cell phones while in flight. They already have those in flight phones but no one uses them because they cost about $10.00 a minute. Maybe they can install some thing that only lets you talk on a cell phone if you pay $10.00 a minute. That should keep the plane quiet.

People are supposed to have manners. Unfortunately, we have developed into a society where signs need to be put up to tell people how to behave. If a person needs a sign to inform him of appropriate behavior then maybe he should not be allowed out in public without supervision.

Read it here.

Why does this sort of thing always happen to me?

I go to the store just to grab a few items and I always end up in line behind some chick who writes a check. And it always takes forever! Maddening! Well, this weekend I got behind a lady that topped all of them.

So, I run into the grocery store just to grab a few things to make a meal for myself. Chicken, a couple of spices, etc.

Anyway, I go to check out and I get in line behind one of the largest women that I have ever seen. She hasn’t missed any meals, if you know what I mean. As a matter of fact if any of you guys have missed any meals I think I found the person who took them. Usually when I see something that large is has Goodyear written on the side of it.

Let me describe this lady to you. She was wearing an old and faded Molly Hatchet tour T-shirt and skin tight running shorts. Her hair was peroxide blond and was styled in a way that I can only describe as, Medusa. Every one of her chubby little fingers had a ring on it and her ears were adorned with the biggest earrings that I have ever seen. I am pretty sure they were once the hubcaps of a 1980 Camero. She was buying a bag of Doritos, 2 packs of smokes and a two liter Mr. Pibb. I know, you guys are thinking the same thing I was thinking. She must be one of those freaking health nuts! HA!

So she places her items on the counter and starts telling the cashier about a rash she had, but that it was almost gone because the doctor had given her some “stuff”. At least I think that is what she said. She was going Lizzy Borden on the English language. I mean butchering it almost beyond recognition. I have never heard anyone use the word “ain’t” that much in my life. She used it a noun, a verb, an adjective, a pronoun, a gerund, and adverb – you name it. I think she actually completed one sentence using nothing but that word!! She went on and on. It was hard to read the look on the cashiers face, but it was something between, ‘am I on Candid Camera’ and ‘oh dear Lord, please take me right now!’

Anyway, the cashier rings up the items and gives the lady the total. The lady takes the saddle bag that she is using as a purse and sets it up on the counter. I swear to you guys, this “purse” was big enough that I could use it to pack for a two week vacation. So, she starts digging and she keeps on digging and digging. I watch as she is still digging, only now she is talking again. Something about her sisters husband being a bad influence on her husband and something about always being drunk. I don’t know. I was just standing there thinking, ” at one time or another this woman has lost money on a pig race.”

Finally she states, “Oh, here it is.” Her gelatinous arm begins exiting her satchel, then out comes her hand and clutched in her dumpy digits is a freaking checkbook! I’m thinking, God please! Why oh why is it a crime for me to pull out my shovel and beat this woman into oblivion?

So, she writes out the check and hands it to the girl.

Oh, it gets better. The girl has to take the check to the manager to get it cleared. I am assuming that she had to do this because the check was from the bank of, THIS SUCKER IS GOING TO BOUNCE.

Now, I’m not sure where the manager was, but judging from how long this took I am going to assume he was vacationing in Hawaii. I just stood there looking at this freak. I wondered what she did for a living. What ever it was they must be paying her in pork chops and apple sauce.

Finally the girl came back, cleared the check and the large lady waddled out the front door and my life returned to normal.

Timm

http://www.timmsshovel.com/

Being in a particularly cynical mood today, let me share some pet peeves that have lately stuck in my craw. Think of it as Surfside’s Top 20 list of political annoyances. It was going to be 10, but they just kept coming.

20. If we make Election Day a holiday, doesn’t that mean we have to pay all federal workers to sit at home without getting work done; and, all those working the election triple pay? Now, that ought to help the budget. For more than 225 years, people have managed to get themselves to their polling places. All of a sudden, it’s an impossible task? Why?

19. It should be illegal to raise funds in a state other than the one where you are running for senate/congressional seat. If not, who is really your constituency: your donors, or those who actually elected you? Isn’t it a conflict of interest?

18. Jesse Jackson needs to retire. The Neverland Ranch search was nothing like the Branch Davidian compound debacle. Give me a break!

17. John Kerry is not smarter than George Bush. We now have proof.

16. The filibuster is not mentioned in the Constitution.

15. God was specifically mentioned by our Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence.

14. Our laws were written based on Judeo-Christian values. The Ten Commandments are actually engraved on the oak courtroom doors in the Supreme Court building.

13. The Right deserves to be represented on the bench just as much as the Left does.

12. We treat our prisoners better than virtually any other country in the world, and certainly significantly better than the terrorists treat theirs.

11. Bush is not responsible for the current loss of life in Iraq — the terrorists are.

10. Hillary’s trying to move to the center. Stop denying it.

9. Pork Barrel spending runs across party lines. Stop spending our money like it’s water and allocate it properly.

8. Vermont should be booted from the United States of America. It clearly wants to be part of Canada, anyway. How can we trust a populace which elects/supports the likes of Jim Jeffords, Howard Dean and the new socialist candidate for the Senate, Bernie Sanders?

7. Nuclear energy is not clean. Ask the citizens near Yucca Mountain, Nevada and Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. It’s clearly a NIMBY situation.

6. Pro-choice is Pro-Abortion. Call a spade a spade.

5. It’s hard to justify taking a criminal’s life when you are purported to be Pro-Life.

4. It’s impossible to justify taking the life of an innocent baby, yet argue a condemned serial killer should live.

3. Stop blaming Jeb Bush for Florida’s presidential election problems in 2000 and 2004. Since 1845, 33 out of a total of 43 Florida governors have been Democrats. No one complained about voting procedures and disenfranchisement during their tenure.

2. The 2000 and 2004 elections are long over. The Dems lost; and, the Republicans won. Get over it and move on.

1. Stop the personal attacks on Republicans — and conservatives in general. Howard Dean, this means you! (Can someone please muzzle the guy?)

All you cynics, please join in by adding your pet peeves in the comment section. Who knows? Maybe you’ll give me some good post ideas. (Note ; Big Dog and I disagree on some of these issues.)

Here we go with another Delta story. As a commenter to this site pointed out, Delta stands for Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport. I keep saying I am going with another carrier but one of the problems with corporate travel is you have fewer choices.

I was in Oregon last week to evaluate an exercise. My wife was also there to evaluate a local hospital. We finished early and she called Delta to change our flights. The person on the phone told her we would leave from Pasco, go to Salt Lake City then to Cincinnati and finally to Baltimore. When we arrived at the airport the boarding passes said we were going through Atlanta and that we were on the last flight to Baltimore. In addition, my passes would not print. The agent told me that the seats for the flight were on hold and I “should” have one when I get there. We had this big discussion about having a seat request card and a boarding pass for Atlanta but she would hear none of it. The gentleman at the boarding gate was helpful but could not get me any papers saying I was supposed to be on either plane.

I flew into Salt Lake City and the first thing they asked me was “where is your seat request card?” I told them that the other agents said I did not need one. They wanted to know why and I told them I did not work for Delta so I could not answer the question but that I flew enough to know I should have had one. I eventually got a seat on the plane. They were unsure but I told them if I did not get on I expected a full refund of the fee I paid to change flights. I informed them that if they sold me a seat that did not exist they were obligated to refund my money. I got a seat. We taxied out and came to a stop. After sitting for a while we were informed that the automatic wing deicers were not working an d that they needed to turn around and have maintenance look at it. I guess we would have a problem up high where it is colder. The ground temperature was about 60 degrees F.

After quite a while (nearly 50 minutes) we were told that the problem was fixed and as soon as we topped off with fuel we would be on our way. So far so good. I am all for safety and if they thought we might need wind deicers then great, we got it fixed. Of course I would have been on the plane for Cincinnati if they had booked it right. The pilot told us that he knew there would be connection issues and that the folks in Atlanta were on it. They are making arrangements and as soon as we are airborne we will try to pick it up a bit to make up time. When we know what time we will arrive we will have connection information for you. Right (he says in his best Austin Powers voice).

Our flight was to leave Atlanta at 2315. We arrived (and they knew we would be there at this time) at 2304 and were at the gate at 2310. We got inside and were told our plane was getting ready to fly out and that we had a hotel room for the night and a $7.00 meal ticket. Now there were many people in line at the hotel. There must have been 50 rooms issued that Delta paid for. It seems to me that if they delayed the plane leaving for Baltimore by 30 minutes they could have saved a lot of money. This was the last flight of the night or we could have caught the next one. No, they spent a lot on hotels and meals and ticked off a lot of people.

The flight crew never gave us the update they promised. I asked about it and was given a run around evasive answer. Then they made an announcement that said nothing except we were entitled to a hotel room. Here are a few of my favorite words that were uttered by Delta employees:
“I don’t make the decisions.”
“Oh, it is no problem. Delta gets the rooms at a special price.” So this means it is OK to screw people because we don’t pay much to do it?
“We appreciate your patience.” As if a group of people on an airplane have any thing else they can be but patient. Where are you going?
“Ladies and Gentlemen we are now prepared for an on time departure.”

The absolute kicker is what is written on the jacket that holds your boarding pass (if you get one).
“How one airline is changing everything:
Yeah, like departure and arrival times.

The insult to injury is that our luggage was not on our plane. They sent it on the flight after ours because it is a bigger plane. They could have told me that. I might have slept in and taken the later flight. I almost made them ship it to me but I waited the half hour for it to get in. Delta is in trouble.

The French have an airport in Paris that is named Charles De Gaulle. They should take bulldozers and level this place and then start over with a design that was developed before anyone gets to the wine table. I flew into This maze on Saturday the 9th as part of my trip to Scotland. There was an hour between the time I landed and the time the next flight was supposed to leave. In every airport I’ve ever flown through this is sufficient time to make the connection. The French had different ideas.

When we landed our plane unloaded into a big bus that elevated to the door. Then, when the bus was full, it went to a terminal and raised up so we could unload into some kind of tube that looks like part of a Habitrail. Then, we had to go through airport security despite the fact we had not been out of their control. We got through and beat feet to the gate with 15 minutes to spare, but one minute s’il vous plait. The gate was only a place to catch another bus to go to the plane. Some French lady was there chatting on the phone and ignored us. Finally my Co-worker asked where the plane was and she said you missed it. He informed her that we had 15 minutes left and she said that we had to be here before that to catch the bus. Perhaps when the jackasses sold us the $3000 plane tickets they could have built in a little time to actually do that. It is pretty hard to catch a plane when you have to taxi across France to get to the bus and then go through security again to catch another bus. If I wanted to take a bus I would have called Greyhound!

Well, we had to go out of the terminal area and re-book the flight to a later one which was 9 hours away! So now we get to stay in the CDG airport for 9 more hours after the pleasure of going back through security. We stayed in the Air France lounge and ate their food and drank their coffee for free so that made it better economically, but for some reason the French have not heard about the second hand smoke issue. Though I am skeptical about all the damage second hand smoke is supposed to cause, I know it is not wise to have an unvented building full of smoke to suck down all day long. Everywhere we went there was smoke. I thought the airport was on fire (which would have nixed the bulldozer requirement). When we finally got to board, you guessed it, another bus to go to the plane the lady stopped us and said we did not have the correct boarding documents. She said they did not do it right at the ticket counter. I looked at my co-worker and said there would probably be an international incident if she did not let us on the plane. She printed the correct documents and we went to board the bus.

The rest was uneventful and I have to say the flight attendants are very pleasant. They even serve a meal on the short flights. Delta is going bankrupt serving peanuts and Air France is serving food on short flights. On the way back we had another problem but this time two very nice French women helped us out. We had an hour and a half to make the connecting flight and figured we could do it. Besides, our travel folks did not seem too interested in trying to change the flight using the logic that there was another flight 2 hours later if we missed the scheduled one. Great plan unless that one is full and we end up in CDG for 9 more hours.

We traveled British Airways from Edinburgh to Paris. The BA lady said she could not check our bags through so we had to claim and re-check them in Paris. Trouble in the making! We arrive in Paris and taxi for about half a mile before we get on the bus. We then ride across France to get to the terminal. We waited 30 minutes to get bags and ran to check in. They told us the flight was closed and that we needed to re-book. We still had 45 minutes before it departed. When we went to the ticket agent she went into super French mode and said that she would fix things. I heard her on the phone and even though I speak little French I understood her saying the flight was delayed. She ran us to a check in person (the other person in France who was actually working) and she got our bags down the chute and the first lady ran us to the head of the security line and down to the gate where there were at least 20 people still waiting to get in. We made the flight and as amazing as it might seem our bags made it too.

The French have a 35 hour work week designed to create more jobs. You still need the amount of work done but they have fewer hours in which to do it so more people need to be hired. For every 7 employees a company has they would need one more to make up the lost hours. This, by the way does not work. France has a double digit unemployment rate. My point is, it seems the airport was designed with the “give everyone a job” mentality. There is a bus to and a bus from so you need two bus drivers. There are security checkpoints where you do not need them so there are more security people. There are people in the ticket re-book booth and the way this place operates you need a few people there (where the two hardest working people in France saved us). The design does not lend to efficiency and I have decided that I will not travel through there again. I would rather have a lay over in Baghdad than fly through Paris.

There is a movie I believe entitled Terminal. It is about a man who lives in the CDG airport because he does not have a passport and no one will claim him. Don’t believe it. This guy has been trying to get his luggage and catch a flight for all these many years. If you ever see him tell him to go to the counter and ask for Bentrice (sp). She will get him out of there!