My non-epic battle with Facebook continues. After being told by a customer disservice rep via e-mail about a month ago that my account would not be reactivated, I took the next step: I actually filed a complaint via the Better Business Bureau of Silicon Valley. I received a letter today from the BBB telling me that FB (which is a member of the Bureau) did not respond to my complaints despite two requests from the BBB to do so.

I'm still ticked off over the whole thing and need to figure out what to do next.

Truth in advertising.

From this article: McCain has cited her authority over the Alaska National Guard as one example [of her experience]. But in a memo last spring, Air Force Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell warned that "missions are at risk" in the state's units because of a personnel shortage. The lack of qualified airmen, Campbell said, "has reached a crisis level."

In an interview on Wednesday with The Associated Press, Campbell said the situation has improved since then, but not enough to eliminate his concern that shortages will result in "the burnout of troops."

In an interview with Salon.com, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, aka Kos from Daily Kos, makes an excellent observation about the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter. The emphasis is mine.

Do you think Barack Obama responded correctly to Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy?

Yeah, of course. It's not his job to be digging into that. If the Republicans are going to be all high and mighty about people digging into the lives of candidates' families, all I can do is laugh, given the treatment that Michelle Obama has been given by Republicans -- maybe not John McCain proper, but every surrogate beneath him.

Ultimately, when it comes to Bristol Palin, the issue isn't, oh well, she's a bad girl. We're progressives; we don't care if she got pregnant. That's between her and her family and she's got to deal with it; and in fact, progressives believe in having the services available to make her life better and to help her in what's going to be a very, very difficult journey ahead. The issue is, of course, that Sarah Palin is a strong supporter of abstinence-only education. Here we have a situation where they claim that abstinence-only will prevent teen pregnancy when her own daughter has gotten pregnant. There are legitimate policy questions that go beyond the fact of Bristol Palin to the kind of governor [Palin] would be, the way she would help govern this country were she the vice president. And I think that is obviously, legitimately fair game.

So you may have heard that Sarah Palin and Rudy Guiliani made light of Barack Obama's experience as a "community organizer." Here's a blog entry that poses the question, "Why are they doing it?" It doesn't give an answer, mind, but it does give a good explanation of what Obama did in that role -- and points out that Palin's previous jobs included "beauty queen" and "sports reporter."

An excerpt (and the emphasis is mine):
Now, the truth is that, starting at age 23, Obama ran a faith-based charity called the Developing Communities Project.

It was made up of eight Catholic parishes when he got there and had one staff member. He was its director, meaning he was in charge. He made decisions about it, including staffing, budgets, etc. And when he left in 1988 to go to law school, he had grown its budget from $70,000 to $400,000, its staff from 1 to 13 people. More important, he created a job training program for this community and a college prep tutoring program.

As mayor, [Palin] built a hockey rink/rec center using eminent domain (because apparently there just isn't enough land in Alaska).

And God said, "Let there be a gas pipeline." At least, that's what Sarah Palin heard in her pretty little head, apparently.

Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God,' gas pipeline 'God's will'
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet.

Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets.

"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.

"I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded," she added. "But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."

Palin attended the evangelical church from the time she was a teenager until 2002, the church said in a statement posted on its Web site. She has continued to attend special conferences and meetings there. Religious conservatives have welcomed her selection as John McCain's running mate.

The Assemblies of God, which claims nearly 3 million members, is one of the biggest Pentecostal groups in the U.S. Unlike most other Christians — including most evangelicals — Pentecostals believe in "baptism in the Holy Spirit." That can manifest itself through speaking in tongues, modern-day prophesy and faith healing. The Assemblies of God teaches that spirit baptism must be accompanied by speaking in tongues. Still, some churchgoers never have the experience.

Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, lamented Palin's comments.

"I miss the days when pastors delivered sermons and politicians delivered political speeches," he said. "The United States is increasingly diverse religiously. The job of a president is to unify all those different people and bring them together around policy goals, not to act as a kind of national pastor and bring people to God."

The section of the church's Web site where videos of past sermons were posted was shut down Wednesday, and a message was posted saying that the site "was never intended to handle the traffic it has received in the last few days."

Been a while since I talked about anything political here on LJ (or posted, for that matter) but thought this article from the NYT warranted sharing. Seems Mr. McCain believes that the president's warrantless wiretapping is find and dandy and totally lawful -- and if you disagree, you must be a trial lawyer or part of the ACLU.

Text behind the cut...
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The various birthday and holiday gifts I've purchased for friends and family are slowly pouring in -- and they're all wrapped! Amazon had a special through which they'd wrap gifts for 99 cents a pop. I was happy to pay that amount. They certainly look nicer than they would have had I wrapped them.

So now I have yet another reason to prefer shopping on Amazon instead of going to the mall.

Pumpkin's developed a lovely new morning routine. She likes to go out in the yard to do her bidness, which is fine and dandy in that it reduces litterbox shoveling doodies.

But then she'll find something -- a leaf or a bit of greenery -- and eat it. Then she'll come in and, shortly thereafter, upchuck. And while I'm not one to inspect feline vomit too carefully, I can also see the foreign substance that no doubt prompted the pukage.

Note to self: Remove all leaves and rogue greenery from yard.

Poll #1051393
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 13

A major department store is having a one-day "private" sale on Sept. 11.

Well, people who still support Bush will not doubt be thrilled with how Rudy prepares for and handles emergencies.

I was pleasantly amazed to read last night that the pope has called on his followers to be better stewards of the planet. He gave a sermon (homily?) about it the other day to a huge gathering of followers in Italy, and the Vatican even handed out "biodegradable plates, recycling bags for their trash and a hand-cranked cell-phone recharger."

It doesn't end there: According to the article, "the Vatican ... has joined a reforestation project aimed at offsetting its CO2 emissions, and has also said it was installing solar cells on the roof of its main auditorium."

I emphasize that bit about the CO2 emissions, because I didn't think devout Christians bought into the theory of global warming. The fact that the Vatican is concerned gives me hope that those who've scoffed at the idea for religious reasons will think again.

Amazing what a difference a day makes. I've been struggling with Chase for a while now, actually, about fees that I thought were unfair. I tried to e-mail them and, last night, to call them, and I kept meeting indifference and nonchalance. Exasperated, I decided today that I would just close out all of my cards. I phoned them and got an account minion. I told him I wanted to cancel my account. He immediately transferred me to a specialist. Ooh! You know they were serious. I told the specialist what my beef was, and within two minutes, he credited all my fees.

Really, that was all I wanted in the first place. I guess most people out there aren't willing to play "hardball," are intimidated by credit card companies, or are willing to endure crappy service. Whatever. I win.

Unfortunately, I see no way to get any similar satisfaction from IKEA. They still suck.

I stopped at Macy's over the weekend and was floored to see that they already had decorated Christmas trees on display. I know it's cliche to observe, but ... isn't it a bit early for Christmas?

What the hell is happening with corporate customer service these days?

Let's start with Chase. I have automatic payment set up on my credit-card account, yet for whatever reason, I've gotten slapped with finance charge fees on a relatively new card. I tried e-mailing, requesting a waive, and got no satisfaction. Then I called today and complained. The person I spoke to simply said she couldn't waive the fees. I said that if they don't waive the fees, I'll cancel my card. And that had no affect. She made no attempt to sway me to stay. She seemed entirely unapologetic about it. So, it's cancelled. Crazy, no?

Meanwhile, IKEA continues to be a pain in the ass as I try in earnest to get those last few gosh-darn parts for my kitchen! Their system is ridiculous, as I've mentioned. They have a record my back-order. There's even a number associated with it. Yet they can't, or won't, contact me when items are available. Rather, I need to keep calling, and they'll say, "Oh, well, it looks like this part will be ready week 33 and this one week 40. Try back then." I call back, "Oh, this will in week 42, and this week 45." It's ridiculous. And again, they just don't seem to care.

I thought it was just our education system.