If I ruled the world

Okay, there would be world peace, good jobs for all, a take-down of the Wall Street big-wigs and banks, a bipartisan Congress, spending limits and time constraints on the campaigning process… You get the idea.

But I’m talking about some basics here. Stuff that’s a part of everyday life and gives us major agita.

eHow declaw article: Bad information, bad journalism

It’s hard to determine whether this post should go to “Life With Sally” or to “ExclusivelyCats.” It discusses two topics close to my heart – good writing and cats.

A member of the Cat Writers’ Association Facebook group posted a link to an eHow article titled, “How to Declaw a Cat,” which immediately generated a major firestorm among the members. On the surface the message was that you could knock out Fluffy and systematically cut off her paw tips from the comfort of your home.

Manufacturers foist ugly cars on consumers

... who are either clueless or gullible 

 

Jeeps were always pretty ugly, but this
new model takes the cake.

Update: Dec.18, 2023. And so it continues. We’ve Hit a Grim Milestone We Haven’t Seen Since 1981. Why Can’t We Do Anything About It? 

 

The problems described when I wrote this article more than 10 years ago have only gotten worse due to the obsession with corporate profits and aggressive marketing. These vehicles have only gotten bigger and the technology even more distracting. Now they comprise more than 80 percent of vehicle sales.Needless to say my snark-o-meter is off the charts.

 

Update! Feb. 23. Jeep's new Cherokee might take the cake here. It's described in this article as "lumpier, angrier." You decide.

Car manufacturers are going out of their way to design ugly cars.

I didn’t think they could top themselves after SUVs became all the rage, but the marketing behind them blinded consumers into thinking they were buying a safe family vehicle that would take the kids to soccer practice, the wife to the mall, and the husband to the hunting lodge in the mountains. Or convince their neighbors that they were members of the Secret Service. SUVs and their newer kissing cousins, the crossovers, are a lame concept that sucks people into believing they’re the only thing to drive if they have 1.3 kids and a dog.

No, SUVs were not safe, until the tip-over rate led to stabilizer systems. They’re a must for winter weather? Sure, if you want to play cowboy and scare the living daylights out of mere mortals around you. And ice is ice: an SUV will skid as much as a sedan if there’s no traction to be had.

Grammar and Your Writing: Don’t Ignore the Basics

--> Back in the day, magazines, newsletters, and newspapers, and, if you were very lucky, books, were the primary outlets for your written words. An editor sat as judge and jury over every query and article submitted for publication, which meant that a writer crafted each adjective, period, and comma in order to please him or her, and thus, become published.

Fast forward to today. Editors and proofreaders along with their attendant publications are dropping like flies. Blogs are the new way of communicating. They’re easy to set up. Write something, post it, and bam! Instant gratification. Right?

Not so fast.

Good-by LeBaron, Hello, Solara

The LeBaron in July 2007. (Photo by Susan Braden)

When I was a little girl, not more than 3 or 4 years old, I went with my father as he took an old car to the junkyard. I think it belonged to my great-grandmother, a 1930-something Plymouth. As young as I was back then, I felt bad and cried at the thought of this old car being abandoned to rust with like castaways. 
  
Almost 60 years later, the emotions were exactly the same as I drove my 1992 Chrysler LeBaron convertible to the now-renamed “salvage” yard. It was always a pretty car, sort of a champagne color with tan top and the nice rounded lines. We called it our “mid-life Chrysler."

At 20 years old, it was either a classic or a clunker.

Lock me up until the election is over

Does it really take a year and a half to elect a President?

With 10 months remaining, we are already sick to death of the right-wing pontificating of the 1 percent. They are only ones who can afford -- or buy -- their way into office. I'm sure those on the left aren't far behind, but they are not as vocal -- yet.