Odds and ends, 2/27/08

SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- More consumers and businesses in the eastern Nicholas County communities of Nettie and Fenwick now have access to Verizon High Speed Internet, allowing them to quickly download movies, share photos or video with friends and family, and create their own Internet content.

Verizon recently upgraded customer phone lines for high-speed Internet service, based on DSL technology, at two remotely located facilities in Nettie and Fenwick.

"More customers in Nicholas County can now make the high-speed connections that are important in their lives," said B. Keith Fulton, president of Verizon West Virginia. "Verizon's ongoing investment in this area means that many more rural communities have access to affordable and reliable high-speed Internet service, changing the way people shop, work and learn."

Hey, Verizon, there are a lot of people who live within a 10-minute drive of Huntington city limits who can't get high-speed Internet except for satellite service. We're not remote, but the cable company isn't interested in us; that's why every house out where I live has a DirecTV dish on the roof. Talk about blowing a good business opportunity. And now Verizon is catering to small communities elsewhere and turning its back on a potential customer base of who knows how many people.

Tell me again why a younger generation is ditching land lines in favor of cell phones?

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This is information provided to us:

Hillary Clinton is scheduled to be at (an event in Lawrence County, Ohio) . The event ... is not open to the public, according to a press release from the Clinton campaign.

You gotta hand it to Hillary Clinton. When it comes to handling the media, she's probably the worst national politician since Spiro Agnew. She needs a warm and fuzzy picture of her holding, say, a baby or a puppy. Instead we get a photo of a closed door.

Tell me again why Barack Obama has cleaned her clock since Super Tuesday?

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William F. Buckley has died. The Herald-Dispatch once carried his column, and one particularly copyeditor (not me) gloated the day he caught Buckley using one of those $20 words incorrectly. This was the same copyeditor who used to make an obscene gesture at the TV every time President Reagan came on.

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Honda says it will end motorcycle production in Ohio. It's closing that plant and an older one in Japan to consolidate production at a new plant in Ohio. Workers in Ohio will still have jobs with Honda manufacturing in Ohio, more than likely at the auto production plant in Marysville, where the motorcycle plant was.

To Honda owners, I commiserate with you. I remember when Volkswagen built cars in Pennsylvania. I think my 1986 GTI was built there. It was an okay car. It did not feel as solid as my two German-built Scirocco models did, but it was still a well-built car, except for the electrical system. VWs in that era seemed to have electrical problems.

No matter.

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Maybe I've missed it, because I'm not a political junkie who watches every presidential debate, and I don't tape the Sunday talk shows.

But why is every mistake that I make, such as taking out too many loans or eating too many french fries, something that requires the federal government to rescue me?

Why can't a president or a Congressman say the same thing my mother used to say: You made your bed; now lie in it.

Just asking.

More to come.