As I’m listening to a San Francisco consumer reporter’s story, on TV, about a steep increase in someone’s car insurance bill, I’m thinking about the substantial property tax increase, out your way, in Pagosa.
Mere mortal human beings, figuring out, and attempting to dispute, substantially higher bills for things… whether we’re talking about an insurance company’s higher auto insurance bills, in one case, or higher property tax bills, in another case… can be daunting.
That’s why, out your way, Daily Post editor Bill Hudson has been looking into your property tax situation, and the consumer reporter, out my way, has been looking into the auto insurance increase.
Mr. Hudson had an opportunity to gain insights from the Archuleta County Assessor.
The San Francisco TV consumer reporter, Michael Finney, reached out to the insurance company for some insights, but as I recall, when the TV broadcast aired, he had not received any response… which reminded me of what’s been a burr under my saddle, for a long time… people not getting back to people.
Now, Mr. Finney was able to get some information from an insurance industry organization, as I also recall, but not from the company, itself, that had imposed the cost increase. That’s what business firms sometimes do, they get their industry organizations to run interference, in a way, like in football, when various players on a team divert attention from a key player, who’s running with the ball.
You’re maybe wondering what’s the big deal? Who cares, if someone, with some business firm, isn’t getting back to a journalist?
It’s a big deal… seriously, it is.
Because this is one thing, among a number of things, that’s withering… like plants drying up, withering and dying.
I heard someone on TV voicing concern about the seeds of freedom and self-determination withering.
Whether it’s someone not getting back to a journalist, or other things, small, medium and large, being ignored… that’s the big deal.
Because this is about ‘fundamentals’… primary principles on which things are based… like showing a little respect, as the late Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Tina Turner, wished for in her music. Including, perhaps, respect for old-fashioned common courtesy.
I write about lots of serious things. And this Memorial Day Weekend, honoring seriously-devoted soldiers, who paid the ultimate price, preserving liberty, got me thinking about the meaning of ‘liberty,’ which can be defined as “being free within society from repressive restrictions.” And then, I’m thinking about school boards, around the country, banning books in school libraries, and about broad scale book ban proposals that could impact other areas where learning takes place.
All this is so damn serious, that I’m then figuring some way to intersperse something a bit lighter, even a little humorous, in this column.
And funnily enough, as the British say, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, of the Memorial Day Holiday, I’m watching TV, because thinking about all the serious things, I can’t get to sleep… and, on the telly, as the British also say, there’s an old Seinfeld show. Kramer, one of the characters on the TV sitcom, has received the wrong personalized license plates for his car, with a word suggesting he’s a proctologist.
Kramer’s also fashioned a toy made of… I think, dried pasta noodles… that kind of resembles the star of the show, Jerry Seinfeld. And then later, the late comedian, Jerry Stiller, in the role of Frank Costanza — George Constanza’s father — is scuffling with Kramer, with Frank awkwardly landing on the Seinfeld pasta toy.
After being rushed to the hospital, Frank Costanza is having the toy removed by an actual proctologist.
You know what else is kind of funny, in a way, in the wee hours, on TV? Advertising, featuring the many settings available on vehicle headlights, more settings than you can shake a stick at. The headlights on my older vehicle, you can turn on and off, and you can make them brighter if necessary using just one setting… and with just one other setting, you can make the headlights less bright.
On other channels, there’s something about facial exfoliating, and home design concepts for Florida homes.
Watching the Florida homes show, I’m thinking… isn’t Florida one of the states where those book bans are being launched?
So anyway, getting back to proctology…
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.