So there I was. I had just taken my 85-year-old father to Wells Fargo to conduct some banking and, on the way out, I held the door open for a woman who breezed through, said nothing, and disappeared as though it was expected.

This really pissed me off. I got no “thank you,” no “thanks,” not even a grunt. If she were 10 years old I might expect that. This lady was obviously in her mid-30’s, well dressed, not a dirtbag, and had all her teeth. She wasn’t on crank to the best of my knowledge.

I told Dad: “You know, that’s the last damned time I hold the door for anyone. I’m tired of doing that for nothing. People are plain rude so screw ’em.”

My Dad had to agree.

I hold the door for anyone; it doesn’t matter, male or female. I look upon it as simple courtesy. At 24 Hour Fitness, when I go to work out, I open the door for anyone close. I open the car door for my girlfriends, hold the door at restaurants. When I order something in a store, on the phone, in person, I say lots of “please” and “thank you.”

More and more, in response to “thank you,” I get: “no problem.” It’s like everyone’s forgotten the proper response is: “you’re welcome.”

Hello? Thank you = you’re welcome.

I’m at the point in my “career” on this planet where I can go either way and not lose sleep: do I keep doing what my gut tells me to do, or do I open a door, let it close behind me, and communicate to those in the service industry with grunts, clicks, or absolute silence — as I see most others do?

This is apparently an issue in Britain as well:

The British are nowhere near as rude as Americans. Americans are loud, crude and inconsiderate. I see a British people that are chivalrous towards people who are disabled or elderly. In stores or restaurants to be unfailing polite and courteous as well as highly professional and competent. The British are very direct and say exactly what they mean – they are honest, but they are never mean. I have found, on my numerous visits to Britain, the people to be polite, helpful and competent, yet more brisk and impersonal than Americans. Jeff, USA

Or some more comments from Britain:

People all over the world, in my opinion, are today getting more impatient and in the process, ruder too. In today’s highly materialistic society there is the inner urge to compete and do better in life than one’s neighbour come what may. This often leads to rude behaviour. Gone are the days when people had the time and were in a mood to listen and accommodate the other person’s point of view.
Albert Devakaram, India

And:

I love France but if there is one thing that I hate about the place, then it’s their level of customer service. Without exaggerating, I can honestly say that they haven’t a clue how to treat customers. I have rarely been satisfied when purchasing goods in French shops, and can tell you that the UK’s standards in customer service are much, much higher than those in France. James, France

Not an issue. Everyone hates the French anyway. No loss there. This next comment may have hit the nail on the proverbial head:

I’m ashamed to admit that I’m getting ruder. If you’re polite these days, many people perceive it as a weakness and exploit your “better nature.” As a result, I think that the nation as a whole is getting angrier. Raymond, United Kingdom

So I posit this question: what should I do? I can roll either way. Do I continue to be as polite as, I must admit, I tend to be or — do I “go with the flow” and shirk what I consider to be my general public resposibility?

In the process of blogreading members of the Western Alliance, adding links to my website and checking out local (read: Sacramento Valley) opinions on the SCOTUS nomination, I came across this from Sacto Dan:

Many Conservatives, myself included, have supported President Bush on key issues while scratching our heads on the others. Yet there has been no action beyond lipservice on the southern border, and Federal spending is making even Democrats blush.

Is Bush a conservative? We think so, but then comes Harriet Miers and our confidence is shaken. We expected Bush to take advantage of an historic opportunity to restore some sanity to the Supreme Court, and he blinked.

Dan, I must say I concur completely. Fetching Jen takes the other tack:

I am growing weary hearing the flapping jaws from conservatives about President Bush’s most recent nomination to the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers.

This is the weak link in our party. It is embarassing and frankly, shameful. The behavior smacks of elitism from the left; the “I’m smarter than you” attitude we usually see from our leftie brothers and sisters. Your bewailing is only nourishing the MSM.

Dissension and disparate views. I gotta tell ya: try that in China. Or Russia. Or North Korea. Or much of the Middle East.

That’s why I love this country!

This just in:

The average price of a home in Fornicalia is $500,000.

The average price of a home in Sacramento, Fornicalia is $400,000.

To qualify for a $400,000 home, you need to have an income of $120,000.

From the Washington Post:

According to a new survey of average home prices in 319 U.S. markets by real estate firm Coldwell Banker, you’ve got to be a millionaire to be middle-class in the Golden State.

Of the top 10 most expensive places to buy a relatively basic, 2,200-square-foot, four-bedroom, two-car garage house, nine are in California, with the priciest town being La Jolla, where that kind of home costs $1.88 million. It would cost $1.77 million in Santa Monica and $1.27 million in San Jose, No. 9 on the list. In Greenwich, Conn., the only town outside California to make the top 10, it would cost just under $1.27 million.

My question:

Who in the hell is buying homes in Fornicalia? I bought my 1200sf mountain home in 1993 for $117,000. It was last appraised at $300,000 — new deck, new paint, etc. At that price, I honestly couldn’t afford to buy back my own house at its appraised value! How soon will everyone regret their Trick Mortgage?

Where are the least expensive homes? From the WT:

Rock bottom in Killeen, Tex., where the average price is $131,328, according to Coldwell Banker.

So: is the US housing market going to crash?

The United Kingdom is experiencing its own concerns in the housing market.

Depending on what you read, the GOP is imploding or exploding. My guru, whom I greatly admire in most every aspect, is Hugh Hewitt — and he’s raking everyone over the coals for failing to stand (blindly, in my opinion) behind President Bush in his nomination of Harriet Ellin Miers to the SCOTUS. He has had a website, Beyond the News, augmented to gather specific support for the Miers nomination. He’s keen to rake “regular” callers over the coals for their failure to support Bush’s choice, but is not quite so keen to treat “VIPS” in this fashion — those who write political columns, for example. Overall, I have to express my disappointment with Hugh not in what he’s saying, but how he’s saying it. We all have the right to disagree.

Me too. I also reserve the right to disagree. To the point where I now believe that Harriet Miers may in fact end up stepping down as a nominee. I posted earlier: this might not be a horrible thing. Hugh continues to believe in the president’s nominee and writes today:

Conservatives are deeply split, though the pro-Miers camp is gaining, and the steadiness of the president assures her eventual confirmation. (See this morning’s from R. Emmett Tyrrell). But it is an important debate among friends, not an occasion for the sort of vows of eternal enmity that mark the left in its melt-downs.

The anti-Miers caucus is headquartered at NRO, but these are remarkably talented and honorable conservatives, not destroyers of the Republic. Some of their rhetoric was over the top, but that’s why we call it rhetoric. When I tease them about being a part of the Bos-Wash Axis of Elitism, it is just that teasing, not a call for their banishment. (Well, Peter Robinson. . .)

There’s a big difference between wrong and rotten. David Frum is wrong. Bill Mahr is rotten. K-Lo and Mark Levin are wrong. The DailyKos gang is rotten.

Here’s the good news: The left is riding over the hill to attack Miers on the basis of her religion and the president’s appreciation of it. Now we can all get along, right?

Well, perhaps. Attacking on the basis of religion is wrong. But religion isn’t a valid basis for appointing or disqualifying a potential nominee. Article VI, clause 3 of the US Constitution says “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

I don’t believe the GOP is coming apart at the seams. I think it’s experiencing frustration at having the proverbial Golden Opportunity under the Bush Presidency and then not being allowed to pull out the stops and make a stand. I’m not saying Miers is a bad person or unqualified per se. I’m not an east coast Yale elitist (hell, I barely passed “sandbox” in kindergarten — just ask my Dad) and I don’t think it’s sexist or elitist to express concern in her bonafides. I’m just thinking that there are others more eminently qualified that I would love to place on the SCOTUS bench. You know my choices and my preferences.

Things are coming to a head. Some are bemoaning the end of the GOP as we know it; I don’t think it’s nearly that serious. I’m a loyalist when I can be — but not so one-sided that I won’t verbally disagree with my party, my work, my acquaintances or friends when I believe them to be incorrect.

Folks, if we can’t politely discuss and air out various concerns involving the GOP — well, then, we’ve a bigger problem than the Harriet Miers issue.

There it is, in all its glory — my house last winter, after just a touch of snow has fallen from the steeply-pitched, very slippery metal roof onto the brand new Trex deck below. Ah, the joys and freedoms of shoveling wet Sierrra Cement with a plastic Grain Hog (see vertical object stuck in said cement). Ah, the joys of having vast clumps of cement cascade down one’s open neck from the verdant pines above.

But Shirley, I jest. In truth, there’s nothing finer than snuggling with one’s honey in the living room, the vaulted ceiling above, with a crackling fire in the stove adjacent the rock wall, cup of cocoa in one hand, watching the flakes fall outside, with a nice blanket covering you both. Aaaaah. It really doesn’t get any better.

Except when the bill arrives. My electricity is supplied by PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric, for non-Left Coasties) so, of course, I don’t heat with juice; I primarily use propane augmented with the wood stove. And yes, I can still burn real wood in my county, and let that horrible smoke curl up into the pristine atmosphere like the Neanderthal I am — unlike some of you other oppressed people whose councils and supervisors have banned, banned I tell you, the burning of trees. Trees! Primitive! Aborigine! Philistine!

So here comes the propane truck to fill the tank on my property — my, ahem, 500 gallon tank. Aha! Greedy white man, raper of wilderness, horrific consumer of energy! Get over it, Bub. I just don’t like to run out of heat.

Used to be, years ago, when we cracked oil for gas the resulting propane was simply vented into the blue. Now it’s darned near every bit the commodity that gasoline is. So this winter, says the Associated Press:

Winter heating bills will be a third to a half higher for most families across the country, with the sharpest increases expected for those who heat with natural gas, the Energy Department forecast Wednesday.

The department said natural gas users can expect to pay an average of $350 more during the upcoming winter compared to last year, an increase of 48 percent. Those who heat their homes with fuel oil will pay $378 more, or 32 percent higher than last winter.

Propane users can expect a percentage jump in their bills similar to those of fuel oil users. In its winter fuels outlooks report, DOE’s Energy Information Administration assumed a normal winter and steady progress in restoring oil and natural gas production and refinery output from the damage inflicted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“Should colder weather prevail, expenditures will be significantly higher,” the EIA said.

Once again, looks like my pregnant cat will have to go without shoes for a few months. I’ll work some overtime, teach some extra classes, and then I’ll get over it.

In the meantime — wow. What a view from the living room!