Loading ...“Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” wins the Oscar for Best Picture — for a total of 11 Academy Awards.
For Best Picture, it won over “Seabiscuit,” proving that you can beat a dead horse.
Archive for February, 2004
From all appearances the months long grocery strike will soon be over. (Full disclosure: I worked at an Alpha Beta grocery store while I was in high school and was therefore a member of UFCW Local 135.)
After reading numerous articles on the substance of the proposed contract, you can only come to one conclusion: the union lost.
Yes, the union was able to save most of their heatlh benefits and a good portion of their pensions, but to look at the big picture, the union has received a mortal wound that will eventually kill it several years down the road.
The union made a decision to focus its efforts on protecting the benefits of current workers, rather than making sure those same benefits would be available for new hires over the course of the contract.
The union has agreed to a two-tier system where employees doing the exact same job will have different pay and vastly disparate benefits. In three years, when the current contract is up, the union leadership will have some difficulty representing the interests of both groups.
Over the coming three years of the contract, current employees will receive no pay increases, their pension contributions will be cut and in the third year of the contract they will have to contribute to their health coverage.
It’s even uglier for the new hires. They’ve got to work for one year before they get health care coverage — and two and a half years for their family/dependents. When I worked for the Donrey newspaper group (cheap bastards) it was six months before you got health care coverage. One year? And 30 months for your dependents? Ridiculous.
Some striking workers are rightly angry at the union leadership, contending that this deal was something they could’ve gotten months ago — possibly without even a strike. I think they’re right. It’s difficult to see much in the way of substance that the union got from the strike.
When a company wants to break a union, it often can, unless other, uninvolved unions rally to their support. Truckers unions staged periodic protests, refusing to deliver food to the stores, but it was far to little to bring the companies to heel.
I’ve only heard one story where a strike actually worked brilliantly for the union, and that was a Donrey-owned paper in Hawaii. The workers went on strike and the company brought in editors and reporters from other papers to put out the Hawaii paper. It worked fine for the company until the next shipment of newsprint came in from the mainland. That’s when the dock workers — also unionized — refused to unload the newsprint.
The company discovered that it didn’t matter if you had editors and reporters if you didn’t have paper to run through the presses.
The days of being able to make grocery clerk a career and support a family are coming to a close.
The union lost.
My senior project at Cal Poly SLO was a content analysis of the Los Angeles Times coverage of the abortion issue. My findings confirmed those of Times reporter David Shaw who also did an extensive report on abortion coverage in the major media.
In short, when covering abortion:
- The media is more likely to quote “pro-choice” advocates first, and more often.
- When a story is on the front page, very often the pro-life quotes are far enough down in the story that they are on the jump — which far fewer people read.
- Newspapers (at that time — 1990) were more likely to use the labels “pro-choice” and “abortion opponents.” Using the preferred terminology of those they ideologically supported and an accurate, but more neutral term for those they opposed.
That brief review of abortion coverage was prompted by this article in Saturday’s Union-Tribune on the federal government’s subpoena of medical records of late-term abortions.
The article quotes:
- Spokeswoman from Planned Parenthood
- President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside counties
- An attorney for Planned Parenthood.
- A Justice Department spokeswoman (who basically says “no comment”)
- A law professor who observes that the subpoena is relevant to the lawsuit and privacy concerns can easily be satisfied.
The article, while interesting, is missing a big something. The “why”. Why is the government asking for this information? There is no effort made to answer that question — mainly because the only source of that information (with the government refusing to talk) would be a pro-life voice. That could have provided is some context that is missing in this article.
If you read the entire article, you get no hint of what the government is trying to prove by subpoenaing these records. The government’s case is based upon the premise that partial-birth abortion is never medically necessary. That’s why they want these records.
The telling thing is that if the procedure was medically necessary, then Planned Parenthood would be using them (with names and other identifying information redacted) in their case.
It appears as though someone got ticked at New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and wrote him a missive filled with words not usually used in polite company.
Krugman’s response? Send in the FBI.
I must say that I’m disappointed. I was bashing Krugman before bashing Krugman was cool — and I haven’t even received a postcard from the FBI, let alone a visit by a real, live agent.
It’s really ironic that the FBI would be looking into people who send Krugman obnoxious letters. Krugman has repeatedly suggested that it is he who is the victim — of the government. He jokes with German reporters that he may be arrested by the government and sent to Gitmo.
And then he calls the FBI about a nasty letter. Yeah, all that worry about the government and the stifliing of dissent by Krugman seems kind of foolish now, doesn’t it Paulie?
I was sitting at my desk at the Union-Tribune when the news came in that the California Supreme Court refused to put a halt to the illegal gay “marriages” being conducted in San Francisco. I was first informed of the decision by an excited co-worker who yelled out “hooray!” at the news. The response by several others was “That’s great” and “wonderful.”
Yes, editorially, the Union-Tribune is relatively conservative. But the editorial board is the most ideologically balanced part of the paper. The people in the newsroom are decidedly of a liberal bent.
One bit of good news regarding this decision: In California we can remove judges from the bench. The most famous case was that of state supreme court Justice Rose Bird, who was removed by the voters for her unwavering opposition to the death penalty.
With more than 60 percent of Californians opposing same-sex marriage, the justices might want to reconsider enforcing state law.
“Best of the Web Today” notes yesterday’s vote in the House to approve the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (aka Laci and Conner’s law). The law would recognize that an attack on a pregnant woman actually affects two individuals — the woman and her child.
Pro-abortion zealots (their position on laws like this one put to the lie that they are “pro-choice” — after all, the woman in question here has chosen to have the child) oppose the law because they feel that recognizing that there is a fetus — and that it can be harmed separate from the woman — is an attack on abortion rights.
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said it would be the first time in federal law that a fetus would be recognized as having the same rights as the born. The bill “is not about shielding pregnant women,” she said. “It is and has always been about undermining freedom of choice.”
The House, said Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, was “taking advantage of tragedy to promote the far-right agenda of trying to rob women of their right to choose.”
Nita Lowey and Kate Michelman, standing tall for a murderer’s right to choose. And in truth, they are the ones undermining the intellectual case for abortion rights. The pro-life argument has always been that abortion is murder; Lowey and Michelman’s view is that murder is abortion.
Exactly.
I’m against gay marriage for all of the (non-bigoted) reasons that you’ve heard cited by other conservative commentators. Civil unions I can live with.
Initially I was somewhat inclined to accept the proposition that some states would sanction gay marriage, as long as other states weren’t forced to recognize it.
Well, after reading these questions from NRO’s David Frum, I realize that such a halfway measure won’t work.
Allowing just one state to make legal gay marriage creates the same sorts of problems that the Dred Scott decision spawned shortly before the civil war. If gay marriage is the law anywhere it makes gay marriage the law everywhere.
Though I don’t work as a copy editor now, I have in the past, so I look forward to getting my wings.
A reporter dies and goes to journalist heaven, where St. Peter issues him a harp and a set of moderate-sized wings.
“These seem kind of small,” the reporter complains.
“Well,” says St. Peter, “Wing size here is determined by how much abuse you suffered in your earthly life. See that guy with the butterfly-sized wings? He was a publisher. And the person with condor-sized wings? She was a night city editor.”
Just then a squadron of F-16s roars overhead, forcing the two to hit the dirt.
St. Peter stands up, dusts himself off and mutters, “Damn copy editors.”
I’m watching a replay of Thursday night’s Democrat presidential debate. Ho hum. I want to see these guys draw some blood. Best line so far: Larry King to Al Sharpton: “Rev. Sharpton, why are you in this race?”
Indeed.
I’ve finally gotten around to reading Rick Atkinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the war in North Africa. The book is incredibly well-written and engaging. Even the prologue, usually part of the book that is a bore to read but necessary for understanding, is a joy to read. I’ve found myself repeatedly impressed by Atkinson’s ability to turn a phrase. If you’re a history buff at all, you ought to get out and read this book.
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