Those who know me know that customer service or the lack thereof has always been a pet peeve of mine. I have been in sales, customer service and management (having personally owned 2 businesses) for over 20 years and pride myself to delivering the best customer service my customer could dream of, I have a real hard time when the service I get is at times (and unfortunately more and more often) subpar or non existent.

Some companies (like the ones mentioned in the survey in particular) have no notion of what customer service is or should be.

Last year, I reprinted the “Customer Service Hall of Shame” published by MSN, hers is the 2007 version. Not much has changed and much of the same corporations proudly hold the top rankings (being facetious here)

The Customer Service Hall of Shame

These companies topped a list of more than 400 nominated by MSN Money readers. An MSN Money-Zogby poll ranked the 'Bottom 10,' and the 'winner' is . . .

By Christopher Oster

Who hasn't gotten lost on an automated phone line, wandered aimlessly around a store trying to find a sales clerk or waited hours for the repair technician who never comes?

We asked readers to tell us about their worst customer-service experiences, and more than 3,000 responded within 24 hours of our request. Now, with the help of pollster Zogby International, we are introducing MSN Money's Customer Service Hall of Shame, a ranking of the companies whose service is most often rated "poor" by consumers.

The results are in, and one company ranks below all the rest: Sprint Nextel, one of the country's largest wireless-phone carriers.

Add your voice to the outrage

A remarkable 40% of people who had an opinion of Sprint's customer service said it was poor. And Sprint was hardly the exception. All of the companies that ranked in our Bottom 10 had customer service rated "poor" by at least 20% of the respondents who expressed an opinion about their service.

At right is the Bottom 10, ranked by the percentage of people who said a company's customer service was "poor."

Click here for complete results and methodology

You'd think that people unhappy with their service would just switch companies, right? Or that 40% of Sprint's 53 million customers would take their business elsewhere. Not so fast.

What many of these companies have in common is that, even though they appear to take their customers for granted, their customers have little choice but to swear and bear it. Want to change your cell-phone company? Be ready to pay up and lose cheap calling to many of your friends. Want to dump your Internet provider? Dial-up service might be your only alternative. Want to change banks? Set aside a couple of days to figure out the record-keeping hassles.

And these companies know it. Bank of America, second on our list, can't resist making acquisition after acquisition, setting in motion a painful process for its acquired customers. The less choice you have, the less pressure companies will feel to offer quality service.

Dishonorable mention

Sprint was among more than 400 companies identified by MSN Money readers this year after columnist Scott Burns asked them for nominees for our Customer Service Hall of Shame. We took the top vote-getters from that list to Zogby, which asked a random sample of 5,000-plus people to rate the customer service of companies on that list.

One company that notably did not make it into the Hall of Shame is Home Depot. It was an article about deteriorating customer service at the home-improvement giant that sparked our interest in customer-service problems. Readers responded to that column, also written by Burns, with more than 6,000 posts in our message boards and thousands more e-mails, most agreeing that Home Depot wasn't properly taking care of its customers.

It turns out Home Depot's customers don't feel nearly as ill-served as some other companies' victims. In the MSN Money-Zogby poll, Home Depot ranked 14^th -- consider it a dishonorable mention -- with 13.3% of respondents who had an opinion calling its service "poor." Rival Lowe's ranked 18^th.

When the original Home Depot story ran, the deluge of message-board posts about miserable customer service caught Home Depot's attention and prompted CEO Frank Blake to post two messages in MSN Money's boards, the first apologizing for our readers' experiences and admitting "we let you down."

For each of the five companies at the bottom of our customer-service rankings, we've posted their responses and created message-board threads to allow readers to pass along their own experiences, good or bad.

Sprint's response. Post your own experiences here.

Bank of America's response. Post your own experiences here.

Comcast's response. Post your own experiences here.

Time Warner Cable's response. Post your own experiences here.

AT&T's response. Post your own experiences here.

The bad with the good

A few of the companies that earned lots of "poor" ratings also received many "good" ratings. Wells Fargo is a prime example: While 21% of respondents who rated the bank's service said it was "poor," 52% said it was "good" or "excellent." The numbers for DirecTV were 20% "poor" and 50% "good" or "excellent."

"A lot of companies will come up on both lists, simply because they have so much contact with their customers," says Joe Calloway, a customer-service expert and the author of "Work Like You're Showing Off." "Think about the thousands of customer contacts these companies have. It's no wonder that they're going to be on a worst-of list."

But that doesn't let them off the hook, either, particularly because there are companies that operate in these same areas that do deliver the customer-service goods. Calloway points to Wachovia, a huge competitor of the big banks on the list and one renowned for its quality service.

'Rude, inaccurate and uncaring'

Sprint's sheer size didn't help its ratings, with twice as many people reporting fair or poor service as good. That just confirmed the venom on display in our message boards.

"Sprint has the type of customer service that makes you want to find a bridge and jump from it," read one post in our message boards. "I am not sure who the Anti-Christ is, but I feel certain he (or she) is working at Sprint (customer service) and just waiting until it's time to take over."

MSN Money isn't the first to call attention to Sprint's customer service. J.D. Power recently rated its customer service a two out of five, ranking it behind top-rated T-Mobile (five stars), Verizon (four stars) and Alltel (two stars). Verizon ranked eighth on our worst-customer-service list, while phone company AT&T came in at No. 5.

Some MSN readers bemoaned the fact that they felt stuck with Sprint because their friends and family also used Sprint's service. "Seriously, if not for the fact that the majority of the people I talk to are on Sprint (thus giving upwards of 2,000 mobile to mobile minutes), I would have switched companies a long time ago," wrote one MSN Money message-board poster.

Other readers said they'd rather endure the pain of switching than put up with bad service: "Bank of America took over my credit card account from MBNA and have ruined my ability to do online monitoring of card activity, to pay bills online and to get intelligent customer service," reads another message-board post. "Their online banking reps are rude, inaccurate and uncaring. I am going to pay off my balance and stop using my Bank of America credit card."

Investors take notice

The issue of customer service isn't just a problem for customers. Shareholders need to pay attention, too. Look at Home Depot. For years it was famous for having knowledgeable floor staff who could tell you what you needed to fix a leak or build a garage. Its stock, no coincidence, was a rocket, climbing from a split-adjusted $10 to $70 at the end of the decade. Now, with customer service faltering, the stock has fallen to $39.

"If you want to know how a company is doing, look at their sales," Calloway says. "If you want know how they're going to do in the future, look at their customer service. You can only tick people off for so long."

Even though you've heard about the New Economy, the Experience Economy, the Surprise Economy, the Attention Economy, the Leisure Economy and so on, we can't help but throw yet another Economy your way: the EXPECTATION ECONOMY. Capturing the essence of 2008's demanding consumer arena, it is—surprise, surprise—all about those pesky, demanding consumers:

"The EXPECTATION ECONOMY is an economy inhabited by experienced, well-informed consumers from Canada to South Korea who have a long list of high expectations that they apply to each and every good, service and experience on offer.

Their expectations are based on years of self-training in hyperconsumption, and on the biblical flood of new-style, readily available information sources, curators and BS filters. Which all help them track down and expect not just basic standards of quality, but the 'best of the best'."

The EXPECTATION ECONOMY has been building slowly in the background. The biggest difference from five to ten years ago? Word of mouth now travels the world in a flash, making product launches instantly global, turning every new brand—big or small—into a potential 'player', and most importantly, rewarding exceptional performance with immediate interest and approval from consumers. Basically, Joseph Schumpeter's 'Creative Destruction' on steriods.

 In fact, never before has intelligence on the best, the cheapest, the first, the most original and the most relevant been so openly available to consumers. And never before have consumers enjoyed doing research and 'competitive analysis' as much as they do now, and doing it far more diligently than most corporations do. Blame (or thank) sites, blogs and mags such as:

Core77, Inhabitat, Design*Sponge (design, furniture and objects)

Gizmodo, Engadget, Ubergizmo (cutting-edge gadgets and electronics)

Treehugger (eco-chic products)

Curbed (real estate)

Cool Hunting, The Coolhunter, Josh Spear, NOTCOT (cool, beautiful, have-to-have 'stuff')

Gridskipper, superfuture, Jaunted, Wallpaper, TripAdvisor, Monocle (hotels, restaurants, architecture)

Flavorpill (coolest city events)

FlyerTalk, SeatGuru, Skytrax (best airlines and seats)

Luxist, Born Rich (most desirable luxury goods and services)

Autoblog, Jalopnik, Hybrid Cars Blog (automotive scoops)

JC Report, The Sartorialist (fashion and style)

Kotaku, Joystiq (video games)

Styledash (beauty)

Slashfood, Chocolate & Zucchini (food and beverage)

EUKicks (sneakers)

Vinography (wine)

FirstShowing, /Film (movies)

Digital Photography Review (photography)

And so on!

* This avalanche of consumer intelligence has even spawned a subtrend: consumer info as entertainment, consumers informing each other on the best of the best without feeling the urgent need to actually purchase anything. What started with armchair travel and TV chefs is now applied to virtually every industry or object that consumers desire. We've dubbed this phenomenon "VICARIOUS CONSUMPTION": consumers can now vicariously consume everything and anything through the eyes of curators and other consumers, and the written/spoken/taped reports they freely share. And yes, this will lead to even more INFOLUST and TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY and NOUVEAU NICHE , so please re-read our previous briefings on those trends.

Irritation and Indifference

Tomorrow's consumer forecast: ongoing annoyance with occasional showers of boredom and indifference

The effect of the EXPECTATION ECONOMY on consumers' moods? Once high(er) expectations have been set, they are bound to go largely unmet, since the majority of brands still choose not to keep up with the best of the best (more on that later). In 2008, well-informed consumers will thus find themselves in a perpetual state of indifference and/or irritation.

Indifference will hit those brands that consumers know are underperforming, and that they can avoid due to sufficient availability of the best of the best. If you’re working for one of those underperforming brands, the scary thing is not just selling less (or nothing). It's that indifferent consumers will stop being forgiving, they will stop being cooperative and giving you feedback on how to be more like other, better performing competitors. They'll just leave and never return, without telling you why.

Perpetual irritation is just as bad: this will occur when consumers are forced to buy from an underperforming brand, due to limited or no availability of what they already know is the best of the best.**
In this light, pay special attention to fake loyalty and postponed purchases:

Fake loyalty: consumers will continue to purchase from underperforming brands if the 'real thing' isn't available. To the underperforming brand, all may seem quiet on the western front, until the best of the best suddenly does become available. Good examples of fake loyalty can be found in the airline industry: millions of frequent flyers around the world know that Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines and Emirates offer a superior experience, but since these airlines don't fly on all routes, consumers have no choice but to fly with subpar airlines now or then, or all of the time. Count on them to vote with their wallets every time new routes are added by these 'best of the best' carriers, even if they've never flown with them before.

Postponing purchases: some 'best of the best' brands like Apple actually manage to indirectly convince consumers to postpone certain purchases. Many consumers would rather wait for the iPhone or MacBook Air to become available, than to buy a new phone or laptop. Again, due to the dissemination of information, even local product launches are, from a VICARIOUS CONSUMPTION angle, instantly global. Digital services have already succumbed to phased distribution; the physical world is next.

** Only if the best of the best can be classified as truly UBER PREMIUM, i.e. financially out of reach to most, well-informed consumers are not upset if they don't get that kind of experience wherever/whenever.

The next generation

Let's face it: in the past a brand could get away with not performing at its peak, since consumers didn't enjoy full transparency of the best, the cheapest, the first, the most original, the most relevant. That's really over. And things are bound to get even more radical: the EXPECTATION ECONOMY is a given for younger generations, who are unburdened by an era of mass production, mass advertising and above all, mass ignorance.

So: not knowing who's doing exceptional things and setting your customers' expectations is not an option. Which brings us to the following:

A cross industry mind is a joy forever

The light at the end of an (industry) tunnel is a train ;-)

Sure, we know that what you really, really want is to be told which trends will dictate your industry. If you're in automotive, you want to know about the future of transport; if you're in food and beverage, you're no doubt interested in everything healthy and green and organic.And of course you have a near-obsession with what your main competitors are up to. But in an EXPECTATION ECONOMY, business professionals should obsessively think and look cross-industry, as opposed to suffering from industry tunnel vision.

Here are three reasons why looking cross-industry isn't just great for inspiration, but a prerequisite for understanding how to fuel innovation in an EXPECTATION ECONOMY:

1-Your competition could be anyone

First of all, focusing solely on your own industry will obscure the fact that in economies of abundance, consumers are increasingly spending their 'play money' on goods and services that net them the experience, the indulgence, the excitement, the satisfaction they're looking for at a specific moment. Which could be new sneakers (even though they already own five pairs), or a new cell phone (even though their current one is perfectly fine) or a long weekend away (even though, if they're European, it's probably their fourth getaway this year). So if you're, let's say, Nike, you're definitely competing with Reebok and Adidas and Onitsuka Tiger once a consumer has made up his or her mind that it's sneakers he or she desperately wants. But before minds are made up, when shopping for a certain kind of excitement, it may as well be Nokia or Starwood Hotels. Or Zara. Increasingly, you'll be competing with anyone and everyone, which means you need to keep an eye on anyone and everyone.

2-Expectations are often set outside the industry

Secondly, limiting yourself to your own industry will make you miss important changes in consumer expectations, and will thus put you at risk of disappointing or even annoying consumers. Every industry has its own 'innovation competence', and the innovations they're bringing to market not only excite their own customers, they also shape their expectations for other industries. Whether it's Singapore Airlines' sense of status, Starbucks' understanding of indulgence and rituals, H&M's obsession with making up-to-the-minute fashion affordable, or Apple's prowess in design and usability. And while flawless execution is never easy, the thinking and attitude behind it isn't impossible to mirror. Consumers know this, too. Hence their aforementioned indifference and irritation when it comes to the non-H&Ms, the non-Singapore Airlines, the non-Apples.

Broad trends based on consumer needs and wants will obviously unlock more of these expectations. Just take a look at our previous briefing, 8 trends for 2008, to figure out how these trends set expectations across the board: consumers will come to expect all industries to also start offering them the indulgence of PREMIUMIZATION, the green status fix of ECO-ICONIC, the budget-saving, experience-multiplying pleasure of SNACK CULTURE, the instant gratification of SEE HEAR BUY, the try-out meets relevance joys of BRAND BUTLERS, the uber-personalization of MAKE IT YOURSELF, and the satisfaction of being heard when participating in CROWD MINING. And they really don't care if you're in real estate, financial services, travel or telecom. More hands-on examples to follow below, after point 3.

3-Just copying competitors is a race to the bottom

Another dynamic 'smart follower' innovation session.

Last but not least, if you're obsessed with what your direct competition is doing, you will always end up copying new concepts in your industry. Which means that, unless you're comfortable with being a 'smart follower'*, this is not going to unleash your innovative brilliance ;-)

Now, all of this is of course not to say that you shouldn't actively track what's happening in your own industry. But in the next 12 months, do also constantly ask yourself: who are our other competitors? What experiences could our product or service be traded in for? And what can we learn from other industries setting consumer expectations across the board?

* Management speak for waiting to see whether innovative initiatives by more creative and daring competitors are worth copying: if they are, you're too late, and if they're not, well, by then they're probably working on something newer that does work.

Examples

Enough theorizing: let's look at some expectation-setting (niche) brands, products and services, taken from our sister site, Springwise New Business Ideas:

DIY & apparel | Tomboy Trades, a Canadian start-up aimed at DIY for women, has developed steel-toe boots in pink, green, blue and red. Matching tool belts, safety glasses and hard hats soon followed, as did retail partnerships with Home Depot and Zellers, a Canadian department store. Expectations being set here? Female versions of everything and anything! More examples in our FEMALE FEVER briefing.

Media & publishing | DailyLit offers more than 500 classic and contemporary works free of charge along with a smaller assortment of Pay-Per-Read titles, most of which are priced below USD 5. Books are sent by email or RSS in individual instalments on the days and times selected by the reader—for example: every weekday at 7:45 a.m.—and each instalment is small enough to be read in less than 5 minutes. Expectations being set? A SNACK CULTURE that is truly pervasive and cross-industry.

Entertainment | Children can now watch themselves interact with their favourite cartoon characters, thanks to Kideo's personalized videos. How it works? Customers upload a photo of their child to the site, which is then cropped down to a head shot and attached to a cartoon body. A few days later, a DVD is mailed to the customer's house, with an animated movie that shows the child alongside popular cartoon icons like Dora the Explorer, Spiderman and the Care Bears. Besides featuring a child's image, his or her first name is spoken by the characters throughout the video and also appears on the packaging. Also check out Flattenme, which produces lushly illustrated, personalized books. Expectations being set? Consumers can personalize (and star in) everything.

Advertising | Japanese Tadacopy offers university students free photocopies. This 'free love' is made possible by printing ads on the back of the copy paper, which is slightly thicker than normal to prevent ads from shining through. For JPY 400,000 (2,500 EUR / 3,750 USD), advertisers can have their message printed on 10,000 sheets of paper. Tadacopy machines have been placed at a few dozen campuses, and are a big hit with students. A variation on the theme was just launched in the Netherlands; students at the University of Utrecht can sign up with StudyPrint. After registering with their university email address to prove they're students, they can upload documents to StudyPrint's website and pick them up by entering a code on the printer, or can bring their files to the print station on a USB flash drive. Expectations being set? How about a free version of everything?

 Sports | Undoubtedly inspired by MyFootballClub, which assembled 50,000 football fans to buy a British football club, a professional Bulgarian basketball team is now looking for sponsorship from a crowd of fans. While MyFootballClub first collected enough money from its members and then selected a team to buy, ten-year-old Start is taking a pro-active approach by asking basketball fans to fund an existing team. Start is seeking a minimum of 10,000 people—in Bulgaria and elsewhere—who are willing to sign up before May 1st, 2008, pledging to pay BGN 40 (EUR 20 / USD 30) each if enough other members register to do the same. Once the money has been collected, the team will organize a basketball camp and try-outs. Training sessions will be filmed and broadcast on nashiaotbor.com, allowing crowdfunders to help spot and vote for talented new players. Akin to MyFootballClub's setup, members will virtually manage the team, voting online on key decisions concerning players and coaches. Expectations being set? Consumers wanting, demanding and expecting to play a much more active role in what was until now the producer's/brand's domain. More inspiration? Check out CROWD MINING, CUSTOMER-MADE, STATUS SKILLS, GENERATION C(ASH) and MAKE IT YOURSELF.

 Confectionery | Sir Hans Sloane, based in London, offers clients a bespoke chocolate portfolio. Customers work with the firm's master chocolatier, Bill McCarrick, to discover which types and flavours of chocolate they enjoy most. Much like an expert vintner helps clients stock their cellar with wines that please their palate, Sir Hans Sloane designs a unique chocolate profile for each client. No two customers share the same profile, and their selections are logged in a 'Keeper's Book' for future reference. Expectations being set? Premiumization of everything edible and non-edible. If not bespoke premiumization. More expectation-setting premiumization examples here.

 Automotive | Gilbarco Veeder-Root's new Applause media system brings the power of Google to gas station customers through a live internet connection. Users view maps on the pump's screen, search Google's local business listings by category (restaurant, hospital, gift shop, etc.), and print easy-to-read driving directions right on the pump's receipt printer. Expectations being set? 'Real world' devices and locations that satisfy rampant INFOLUST.

 Fashion | Claseo bills itself as the world's first closed shopping community with an invitation-only line of clothing. Each member of Claseo is given a limited number of invitations to share with friends, who must enter an invitation code and make a purchase in order to become members themselves. All Claseo items are emblazoned with a unique, visible identification code. Not only does that code allow members to recognize one another in a crowd, but it also enables them to learn more about each other. By entering the code seen on another member's shirt on Claseo's website (or mobile site), a user can learn that person's name. Members can connect through Claseo's online portal, which features profiles, messaging and photo galleries, as well as exchange information and tips on a variety of fashion and lifestyle topics. Expectations being set? In consumers' search for uniqueness, some will expect any product or service to come with some kind of exclusiveness and limited access.

Music | Anyone who's ever had a song stuck in his or her head, but was unable to place the title or artist, is bound to think South Korean Midomi pure genius. Users need only sing, hum or whistle a few bars into their computer microphones, and this online search engine can match the tune against its ever growing musical library. The customer then has the option to purchase the track and can connect with others who share the same musical interests. Expectations being set? Instant gratification of the SEE-HEAR-BUY kind. Whenever, wherever.

 Cosmetics | Take a high-margin product like cosmetics, and cut prices by at least half. Add online accessibility with customization, community and values. Throw in some demystifying expert advice, and you've got US-based e.l.f., short for "eyes, lips, face". All cosmetics cost just USD 1, and customers can create personalized profiles that generate product recommendations and customized looks. The site also supports the Humane Society of the United States and PETA. Expectations being set? How about everything being cheap yet pleasant?

Food & beverage / Retail | Urban Rustic, located in Williamsburg, NY, is a grocery store and café that aims to connect local urbanites with local farmers and producers, much like farmers' markets do. The store primarily sells food and dry goods produced less than 100 miles from Brooklyn. Anything from farther afield is acquired from sustainable sources. Expectations being set? How about consumers developing a taste for (and demanding) anything and everything organic, eco-friendly, and local? Or anything 'storied'? More on to deliver on such expectations in our STILL MADE HERE briefing, and our upcoming STATUS STORIES briefing (April 2008).

How to track and set expectations

Tracking and understanding THE EXPECTATION ECONOMY is not a science; in fact it's a nice mix of experience, intuition, and knowing your sources. Grab your notebook and camera and start taking EXPECTATION ECONOMY notes and pictures. As a consumer, and as a business professional. Roam the streets, from Tokyo's Omotesando to São Paulo's Jardins, and scan the list of best of the best sites/publications we mentioned at the beginning of this Trend Briefing.

Find competitors and non-competitors, big and small, who are setting consumer expectations much higher than you've ever been able to. They're more fun. They have better design. Their stuff tastes, looks, feels better. Their customer service actually responds to emails. They're cheaper. Then compile what you think are now the global standards for whatever it is you do, and from there start thinking about new goods, services and experiences that at least incorporate those standards, and preferably outdo them.

 http://trendwatching.com/briefing/

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English.
I can't even talk the way these people talk:
Why you ain't,
Where you is,
What he drive,
Where he stay,
Where he work,
Who you be...
And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk.
And then I heard the father talk.
Everybody knows it's important to speak English... except these knuckleheads.

Mushmouth is what they speak!

You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living. People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads throwing that all away.

The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics. I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit.
Where were you when he was 2?
Where were you when he was 12?
Where were you when he was 18?
And, how come you didn't know that he had a pistol?
And where is the father?
Or who is his father?
People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong?
People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something?

They're walking around with their nasty underwear showing, and holding onto their pants to keep them from falling to the ground!

Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up to her panty line,and got all types of needle piercings going through her body?
What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa.
With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail.
Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem.
We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' -- or men or whatever you call them now.
We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players
who can't write two paragraphs.
We as black folks have to do a better job.
Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids saying... you are hurting us.
We have to start holding each other to a higher standard. We cannot blame the white people any longer. It is not for media or anyone of this time anymore to say whether I'm right or wrong.
It is time, ladies and gentlemen, to look at the numbers. Fifty percent of our children are dropping out of high school. Sixty percent of the incarcerated males happen to be illiterate. There's a correlation.

Tell the media to stop asking me what I think about people who don't believe what I'm saying or feel that I'm too harsh or feel that I'm just running my mouth because I'm old.
Seventy percent of the teenagers pregnant happen to be African American girls.
Don't ask me to soften my message.

Today is Martin Luther king Day, let's remember him and all those who fought and gave their lives to end segregation, all the way back to the civil war with the 1st South Carolina Volunteer or the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer composed of black people who fought with courage.  We can go back the Frontier Days and the Buffalo soldiers, so named by the Indians out of respect for their courage and fighting spirit.  We can also go back to WWII and the Tuskegee Airmen, one of the most decorated fighter squadrons, who did not lose a bomber they escorted due to enemy fire.

Let's think about their example, their courage,  they did not take any shortcuts, did not accept any, they were proud and proud of their community, what would they say today.....

The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute (how about 20 seconds) to go to their site and click the purple button and it doesn't cost you a thing.

Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.
It's also a great place to shop...and that donates even more food to the animals!

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

 http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

 Please tell your friends today!  

This is what happens when "journalists" and "editors" do not proofread.  On the positive side, they provide us with good laughs

Crack Found on Governor's Daughter
[Imagine that!]

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash,
Expert Says.
[No, really?]

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers.
[Now that's taking things a bit far!]

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
[Not if I wipe thoroughly!]

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over.
[What a guy!]

Miners Refuse to Work after Death.
[No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so!]

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant.
[See if that works any better than a fair trial!]

War Dims Hope for Peace.
[I can see where it might have that effect!]

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile.
[You think?]

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures.
[Who would have thought!]

Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide.
[They may be on to something!]

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges.
[You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?]

Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge.
[he probably IS the battery charge!]

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group.
[Weren't they fat enough?!]

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft. [That's what he gets for eating those beans!]


Kids Make Nutritious Snacks.
[Taste like chicken?]

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half.
[Chainsaw Massacre all over again!]

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors.
[Boy, are they tall!]

And the winner is....

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead.
Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity and send this to someone to whom you want to bring a smile
(Maybe even a chuckle).
We all need a good laugh, keep laughing it will keep you young....

An undercover investigation reveals what really happens with hotel glasses. Think the Ritz is any better? Look at related links below to see the follow up investigation at 4-star hotels.

British study's rankings based on access to timely and effective health care

Reuters

Tues., Jan. 8, 2008

WASHINGTON - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.

Researchers Ellen Nolte and Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine tracked deaths that they deemed could have been prevented by access to timely and effective health care, and ranked nations on how they did.

They called such deaths an important way to gauge the performance of a country’s health care system.

Nolte said the large number of Americans who lack any type of health insurance — about 47 million people in a country of about 300 million, according to U.S. government estimates — probably was a key factor in the poor showing of the United States compared to other industrialized nations in the study.

“I wouldn’t say it (the last-place ranking) is a condemnation, because I think health care in the U.S. is pretty good if you have access. But if you don’t, I think that’s the main problem, isn’t it?” Nolte said in a telephone interview.

In establishing their rankings, the researchers considered deaths before age 75 from numerous causes, including heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, certain bacterial infections and complications of common surgical procedures.

Such deaths accounted for 23 percent of overall deaths in men and 32 percent of deaths in women, the researchers said.

France did best — with 64.8 deaths deemed preventable by timely and effective health care per 100,000 people, in the study period of 2002 and 2003. Japan had 71.2 and Australia had 71.3 such deaths per 100,000 people. The United States had 109.7 such deaths per 100,000 people, the researchers said.

After the top three, Spain was fourth best, followed in order by Italy, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Austria, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Britain, Ireland and Portugal, with the United States last.

Previous rankings

The researchers compared these rankings with rankings for the same 19 countries covering the period of 1997 and 1998. France and Japan also were first and second in those rankings, while the United States was 15th, meaning it fell four places in the latest rankings.

All the countries made progress in reducing preventable deaths from these earlier rankings, the researchers said. These types of deaths dropped by an average of 16 percent for the nations in the study, but the U.S. decline was only 4 percent.

The research was backed by the Commonwealth Fund, a private New York-based health policy foundation.

“It is startling to see the U.S. falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance,” Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen said.

“The fact that other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less, indicates that policy, goals and efforts to improve health systems make a difference,” Schoen added in a statement.

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22554235/

Fresh Air from WHYY, January 7, 2008 · Columnist Bob Sullivan covers Internet scams and consumer fraud for MSNBC.com, where he writes a column called The Red Tape Chronicles.  Sullivan's latest book is about the hidden fees found in many phone, cable, credit card and other bills. All told, he says, corporations are nickel-and-diming their customers to death — or at least to the tune of $1,000 or more a year.

 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17898418

David Cay Johnston on How the Rich Get Richer and how the president became wealthy on the back of taxpayers

 

Fresh Air from WHYY, January 3, 2008 · Investigative reporter David Cay Johnston explores in his new book how in recent years, government subsidies and new regulations have quietly funneled money from the poor and the middle class to the rich and politically connected.

 

Cay Johnston covers tax policy for The New York Times, where he won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on that beat. His previous book, Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich — and Cheat Everybody Else, was a best seller.

 

The new book, which expands the inquiry beyond tax policy into a whole range of regulatory machinery, is titled Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill).

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17808622