Scott LaPlant's website & journal

You’re a decorated war hero – thank you for your service to our country. However, for the past 40 years you’ve been a member of the United States congress – again, thank you for your service to our country.

As you’re probably aware, you’re now embroiled in a bit of an ethics problem; 13 ethics charges have been leveled against you. Apparently, you were in “negotiations” to settle the charges which most likely means you’re at least partially guilty.

I would again like to thank you for the service to our country. I would also like to ask you to resign. Decorated war hero or not, you’ve been in the congress for 40 years and with numerous ethics charges leveled against you it’s high time that people in congress understand it’s a privilege to serve. It’s not a lifetime appointment Congressmen! Just because you’ve been there awhile doesn’t allow you the right to act as if the laws don’t apply to you.

Please, do the right thing and move on – set an example for the rest of your colleagues. Again, thank you for your service.

Is your mailbox overflowing with unsolicited credit card offers? Are you sick of receiving offers for everything under the sun? I know I am. As an aside, I wonder how many trees are killed each year for this crap?

I’ve been absolutely mortified in doing some research lately about the business practices of the major credit bureaus. It’s nothing short of scandalous and I am absolutely curious about how they can sell your personal information and it not be viewed as wrong. I guess that’s an argument for another day.

If you go to this ftc website: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt063.shtm you can actually opt out of unsolicited offers. You essentially have two options; you can choose to opt out of credit card offers or you can opt out of credit card offers AND all other types of junk mail.

The credit card offers coming by the dozen? Then simply go here: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t This website is run by the three major credit bureaus – it was mandated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. It allows you to opt out of all credit card solicitation offers. You can opt out for 5 years or for life. If you choose the ‘for life’ option, you’ll need to also mail a form into them. They’ll enter you in the 5 year option in the interim.

No matter what your political preference or affiliation, if you want a voice you need to vote.

It always amazes me how people are so willing to complain but, when you get a little further along in the conversation you find more people than not just never bothered to vote. It’s a civic duty people. You don’t vote, then don’t complain!

This is more about earning the right to complain. It’s about participating in the process. Having a say and telling our leaders the direction you want the country pointed. Go vote!

Sometimes, technology sucks! I can see you nodding your head in agreement. – We’re off to a good start with this article already, right?! Actually, technology really doesn’t suck. What does suck is that sometimes things break, don’t work according to how they’re advertised – this is true of anything, not just technology. Murphy’s law applies here.

This post is just an bunch of random observations I’ve made recently and I wanted to get them down and hopefully generate a discussion. Feel free to agree, disagree, debate, disseminate or aggregate.

Recently, I had seen a headline where President Obama said to dream big goals. I forget the the sub heading of the article but, I believe it was something like “even if they seem impossible.” The point being, we need people to dream big and do bigger.

By now most of you probably know that the iPad will be released shortly. While I think it’s going to be bigger than we realize, it’s apparently making one company I’ve admired for years act out of fear.

Which company is that? Amazon.com. Amazon has been known for sometime to have a great online shopping experience and terrific customer service. Maybe not Zappos type customer service but, good none-the-less.

About four or five months ago I signed up for an electronic subscription to Consumer Reports. A couple of guys I worked with couldn’t say enough about the service. I had always heard/read good things about it so I took the plunge – and I’m glad I did.

This morning I received an email as I’m subscribed to their newsletter. After reading it, I thought it would be a good idea to share with everyone else. See below. Needless to say, I agree with everything stated. I think it’s about time people start getting back to basics; simple things like common decency and doing what is right are not gray areas!

I was watching the news tonight and I couldn’t help but get angry – is it just me or are banks in the business of ripping people off?

In the segment I watched, the banking industry representative painted the picture that the banks were “protecting” consumers by now not allowing debit charges to go thru if the funds were not available in the account. Maybe it’s just me but, isn’t that what they should have been doing all along? I think what set me off was how they framed it as they were protecting consumers. Does anyone really believe this crap?

I recently lost someone very close to me. While the initial shock was probably the hardest thing to deal with, I’ve found myself celebrating, remembering, and enjoying their life instead of mourning the loss.

Sure, I’m incredibly sad and obviously I’m going to miss not being able to pick up the phone and talk. I’ll miss not seeing him and being able to bounce ideas off him but, at the end of the day he’s left me with wonderful memories. I’d rather enjoy these memories right now than cry over his passing. Maybe I’ll do that at some point but, right now it just seems more appropriate to laugh at the good times.