Intimidation by the Big, Bad Union
Travis Armstrong told us the other day that all that nasty newsroom bias from reporters would be explained today and all we got was vague references to signs on trees?
Looks more like an attempt to discredit the unionization efforts...in typical TKA style he refers to union intimidation but doesn't explain it or point out SBNP management's own union-busting efforts in recent days. He takes the argument we here at BlogaBarbara have had against his editorials and turned it on its head. If he says it enough times -- he really thinks the public will believe it.
The truth is most people haven't had many problems with newsroom versus editorial bias in this community -- but Joe Six-Pack may not know the difference between the newsroom and the editorial office. It depends on how the question is asked, doesn't it?
Looks more like an attempt to discredit the unionization efforts...in typical TKA style he refers to union intimidation but doesn't explain it or point out SBNP management's own union-busting efforts in recent days. He takes the argument we here at BlogaBarbara have had against his editorials and turned it on its head. If he says it enough times -- he really thinks the public will believe it.
The truth is most people haven't had many problems with newsroom versus editorial bias in this community -- but Joe Six-Pack may not know the difference between the newsroom and the editorial office. It depends on how the question is asked, doesn't it?
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 9/03/2006 02:58:00 AM
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49 Comments:
Interesting that Armstrong's radio show will be hosted for the next two weeks by Andy Caldwell of COLAB fame. Suppose he will write the editorials, too?
At least Caldwell, an anti-government (unless it is led by former supe. Willy Chamberlain, Joni Gray, B. Firestone) Nipomo resident fixture for how many years at the SB BOS meetings?) shrill shill makes no pretense of being unbiased.
But, then, again, I suppose a radio show on a station owned by the main local daily, the biased NP itself — motto: "all the news we choose to print" — has no pretense of being a news source.
The "Center for Union
Facts" cited in the TA piece is a corrupt front group for an anti-union,
anti-consumer dissembler named Rick Berman. Please check out the following
sites for further info.
1, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Center_for_Union_Facts
("The Center for Union Facts is a secretive front group for individuals and
industries opposed to union activities. It is part of lobbyist Rick Berman's
family of front groups including the Employment Policies Institute.
The domain name www.unionfacts.com was registered to Berman & Co. in May
2005. In May 2006 the Center for Union Facts, launched its first TV ad
campaign. The 30-second spot
(http://www.unionfacts.com/ads/downloads/tv_unionBosses.wmv), running on Fox
News and local markets, has "actors posing as workers" saying "sarcastically
what they 'love' about unions," like paying dues, union leaders' "fat-cat
lifestyles," and discrimination against minorities. The ad campaign cost $3
million, which was raised "from companies, foundations and individuals that
Mr. Berman won't identify." [1]
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114799623004157251.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace)
Another TV ad will be filmed in June. Labor and economics professor Harley
Shaiken said the effort "to create an antiunion atmosphere" more generally,
as opposed to business-funded ads against a particular union organizing
drive or strike, "is a new wrinkle." An AFL-CIO spokesperson called the ad's
accusations "unfounded and outrageous." [2])
2. http://www.prwatch.org/node/4458 "On February 13, full-page
advertisements in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall
Street Journal, along with a media stunt involving a dinosaur, announced a
new union-bashing front group called Center for Union Facts. Who is behind
the ad and their UnionFacts.com website? Nothing in the advertisements or
the webpage mentions Rick Berman, but -- Bingo! -- that's who owns the
website domain name. Rick Berman is a right-wing lobbyist who has built a
lucrative career establishing industry-funded front groups including
FishScam.com, the Center for Consumer Freedom, the Employment Policies
Institute, the Employment Roundtable and ActivistCash.com. Berman
specializes in personal attacks, smear tactics and playing loose with the
facts. He has raised millions of dollars from tobacco, booze, biotech, fast
food, grocery and other businesses eager to pay Berman to do their dirty
work. Another Berman connection to the Center for Union Facts is Sarah
Longwell, the group's PR contact, who has also worked for Berman's
Employment Policies Institute."
3.
http://www.citizensforethics.org/filelibrary/BermanBrief.pdf#search=%22Center%20for%20Union%20facts%22
This offers a bit of Berman's history, as a tobacco lobbyist, who also
worked against the minimum wage.
Armstrong's column today is a JOKE and will be interpreted as so by anyone who's been awake and in SB during the past two months. He should start packing his bags.......
I don't know when the world has last seen such a classic David and Goliath management/worker standoff such as the one now being played out by BILLIONAIRESS MCCAW et al, and the organized staff of the N-P newsroom.
Does poor, deludedTravis live in a dream world? Is he oblivious to the obvious? Is he blind to the bullying tactics of teams of lawyers and publicists [all by the way "outside agitators" from L.A., San Francisco, etc], a 'private eye' firm known for stealth "corporate intelligence", and frivilous, almost parody-like lawsuits and NLRB filings by those GOLIATH-like entities acting for McCaw?
Well, he may be blind, but the rest of the town--region--state is not. Can't wait for the cancellation count on Sept 6. Advertisers need to call the N-P to demand to know the up to the moment circulation==or cancel their ads.
I admire Travis Armstrong. Anyone who can continue to make a fool of himself over and over again has got a lot more guts than I have. Every time I give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that maybe he can explain what's going on, I end up deeply disappointed. But yet he continues to make a fool of himself. One has to grant a certain amount of admiration for his courage.
Armstrong's column nearly every day is a joke. What will be a travesty is the unions taking over our paper. It is clear that Wendy will tire and sell and when she does - if it is union - it will be a horrible buyer. The worse legacy she may leave is a union paper. Ever stay at a union hotel. Every be part of a trade show at a union city. Every try to print a rush job at a union printer.
I leave no question marks as it is a joke. Unions do nothing good for the worker as the set up o horrible relationship with management where each side fights for what they selfishly want.
The only people who prosper by unions are the bosses on both sides and my Ms. Huff and Puff for a short time along with the lawyers.
Unions at the News Press does nothing with Travis and kills a great old paper more than Wendy.
NP enters ICU. Chance of survival less than 50%.
Mike Pinto says...
I had a fantastic experience voluntering for Ned this weekend. It is a downer to log on and see we are still talking about the news press. It was a lacky filled organization before and even more so now. It doesnt make any differance what scribe they have jotting down the mans line. Letting the workers decide between the stooges of the rich and the unions is like saying who would you rather suck your blood, dracula or his bats. Let the workers form a work cadre to meet with managment. If that doesnt work then disrupt and destroy. Then we can discuss important issues like: housing for nurses, vacant lots for bugs, Joe G., cops, and Rob Lowe. After those maybe we can discuss the misery that all the Homeless suffer here at the hands of the idle rich, and the explotation of non -native working americans.Then hopefully a short dialogue on Bush's illegal drive by bombing war on the iraqi people.
Mike Pinto should have said...
I will take my gibberish writings over to Hoverbike.blogspot.com, and have another bong hit.
ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF URGING MIKE PINTO TO START HIS OWN BLOG SAY YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then he won't be forced to intrude on blogs that have to do with subjects he feels are unworthy of his interest....
Take it easy...look at his writings as entertainment and take a few deep breaths....
Mike Pinto provides the perspective of a particular ideology, albeit in a naive and simplistic form. I simply assume that the brevity necessary to this forum forces him to strip his views down the bare essentials. His piety is at least consistent.
What surprises me is that he seems to lack an interest in the News-Press issue. The press has long held an important role in the history of revolution. Newspapers, printers, and television stations are some of the first institutions to be seized during any coup d'etat (right or left). If Mike Pinto truly wants to influence the politics of Santa Barbara County to succor the oppressed, access to a free press is essential to his goals. This is why all of us are concerned. Regardless of our respective political orientations or pet issues, we all understand how important a community newspaper is as a source of information and a forum for the debate of ideas. The union may not be a perfect answer to the problems that now plague the News-Press, but it may just provide the independence necessary for journalists to do their jobs without fear of reprisal.
See the Indy media blog string of current and ex employees debating whether to quit. Here's one bearing on the recent "bias" editorials.
Angeline and ex inmate, reading your posts about whether to hang in and not quit the News-Press, and after listening to management’s empty “more local” promises and reading their “bias” explanations in their editorials over the weekend, I have to at least send an open Labor Day letter to Publisher Arthur von Wiesenberger.
Arthur, a blog reports that on your “nipper.com” website Friday you promised “a weekend of editorials that have been written with the intelligent reader in mind,” but Santa Barbara News-Press readers and your employees here didn’t see anything “intelligent” either Friday, Sunday or this Labor Day morning. What happened to the specific examples of bias that your Friday editorial promised for Sunday?
We did read that you and Wendy McCaw, who come in late to work, leave early, sometimes don’t show up for days in the building, or are on European yachting vacations, insulted us employees in the pre-Labor day editorial as not putting in “an honest day’s work.” You don’t even know many of our names, much less understand how damn hard we work for Wendy.
You also said in your Sunday editorial that “our community deserves better than outsiders trying to tear down the local daily newspaper …” Arthur, granted, you’ve been in town a long time, earning your lightweight photo credits, running your nightclub, and being supported by rich women, with your creepy reputation preceding you to the newspaper, which Vanity Fair will undoubtedly cover next week. But Wendy and Travis haven’t been here in town that long, and THEY, along with your three or four law firms, two PR crises managers, new security firm that replaced Mike, and your hired private detective -- all from San Francisco or L.A. -- ARE the “outsiders” who (with you) are tearing down our newspaper.
Travis’ column Sunday was simply his same old tired attack on Marty and Susan. He looks and writes exhausted, and has to be wondering why he keeps taking slams for you, Arthur, if not for Wendy.
In short, Arthur, your promise of editorials for “intelligent readers” was not true; it came off as delusional and condescending as the editorials themselves.
You’ve been Wendy’s latest Publisher for about four months; what “intelligent” improvements have you made? None, as far as we can tell.
When you first gave up food writing, slept your way above your editors into the Publisher’s office, and sat in George’s managing editor’s chair at your first news meeting, things immediately went to hell, for Wendy and everyone else. You showed you’re hopelessly in over your head, in a business/profession you know nothing about. Your high school editing has become part of the ongoing joke about you around town.
As you sip champagne and dispense travel drivel, you’re still dragging our once proud publication through the mud, ruining lives and bringing the News-Press to its knees before the Teamsters union. You’ve caused Wendy and our paper to become an international laughing stock and Wendy to be reviled locally. Our audited newspaper sales will show big reader defections in the coming months as subscriptions come up and readers don’t want to write “SBNP” on their checks. The worst part of this nightmare is we’ve lost the public’s trust – a cliché to you, but meaningful to us as employees since that loss will cost the paper and Wendy millions.
If you had any guts, management savvy, smarts or even charisma; in short, if you really were a Publisher, you’d lead Wendy and the paper out of this mess, instead of just hiding behind her skirts and lawyers, flacks and the private detectives hired to spy on those of us who have labored here for decades. You’d start by being a physical and vocal presence at the employee press conference tomorrow at high noon, about 100 steps from your door. You could also tell Wendy what is really happening to her, her reputation and her fortune, uncolored by your own self-interested ambitions and need for her money.
But you won’t. You’re frightened, caught in the headlights. Your return as harmless court jester to Montecito café society is really what “intelligent readers” want to read about this weekend.
Happy Labor Day.
Sarah - I read your original posting and what troubles me the most about it is this:
"If he says it enough times -- he really thinks the public will believe it. "
Unfortunately your are right - Joe Six Pack generally does not take the time to become educated about the quality of the news source and information he/she receives daily. For some, if they read something in the newspaper, then it is the gospel truth.... and that is scary. dd
Hey Everybody! Quit picking on Mike Pinto just 'cause he has a different POV.
I've said this before and I will say it again - I disagree with PRACTICALLY everything he says EXCEPT every once in a great while, he does have something quite insightful to say.
Just read his posts, laugh and sometimes learn a little something from them. JMHO dd
Those journalists left should be updating their resumes. Union or not, the clock is tickig.
I am shaking my head again with disgust. This blog is a pathetic daily rewind and reprint of how awful Travis is. Aren't there any other writers you can pick on? I do not understand the obsession. If you say this blog is about the issues in Santa Barbara and surrounding community, then why the continual spiteful comments about ONE person? Grow up.
Face facts: The News-Press would have died anyway...
5:45 pm -- this is one of the biggest issues in Santa Barbara today and I don't have any regrets in posting about the News-Press Mess. Issues are cyclical and if you go back a few months you will notice that almost everything was about the 2nd District race....using Travis' columns is also a jumpstart to a discussion because he is so out of touch. Sorry it doesn't work for you but I will keep on posting where there is interest and there is a lot on this subject.
Right on Sara! The multitude of issues embodied within & by the current NewsPress meltdown are impossible to deny or ignore and have local, regional and media-wide implications. Anyone who pretends not to recognize that fact is either an apologist for Travis or a groundhog just waking up after being "on holiday" for the summer...
Keep up the good work &
EVERYBODY SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE NEWSROOM STAFF BY ATTENDING THEIR NEWS CONFERENCE AND RALLY TOMORROW TUESDAY SEPT 5 AT NOON AT STORKE PLACITA!!!!!
Perhaps it should be a job fair tomorrow.
Help these people get of hell.
Don't you mean McCaw Placita?
I sympathize with the plight of the News-Press staff, who clearly are the victims of management whose lust for power is exceeded only by its cluelessness about journalism.
However, I believe that the quest for a newsroom union is misplaced and ultimately damaging to the goal the journalists are pursing.
Unions, including the Newspaper Guild and Communications Workers of America, have traditionally concerned themselves with workplace issues such as salaries, benefits and staffing. Unions have rightfully recognized that their role is not to meddle in editorial content; in fact many exist at newspapers whose own editorials are staunchly anti-union. That is as it should be.
Installing a union at the News-Press with the explicit role of second-guessing management over news decisions is a recipe for disaster. Instead of moving the paper toward editorial independence, it only would lock editorial management and the union in a daily series of neverending battles over headlines, story placements, etc., with the union functioning as a de facto second layer of management, its interests often conflicting with the first's.
In other words, it would substitute competing agendas for the McCaw agenda, locking the paper in a series of paralyzing internecine battles that would harm morale and degrade the quality of the newspaper. While I understand the employees' frustration over their situation and desire to do something - anything - to improve matters, this is the wrong solution.
self-Reported VLAD WATCH, LABOR DAY HOLIDAY EDITION:
The Dems annual Labor Day picnic ended at 4 PM today, right? That is why I was leaving then with my photographer intern. The action did not keep going on for another two hours, did it?
No one made any political speeches after then, right? The Mayor of Santa Barbara did not announce for the first time in public that the City Resolution to support impeachment of Bush and Cheney now had 2 supporters for it to get on the Council agenda, right?
I do not know, as I had to look up the agenda for the City Agricultural Board of Review.
The world according to Armstrong:
(to borrow from the Talking Heads):
Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts dont do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
Facts dont stain the furniture
Facts go out and slam the door
Facts are written all over your face
Facts continue to change their shape
Vladinator -- how about other stories that will likely not get in the paper tomorrow:
1) How about the fact that the Democratic Central Committee somehow endorsed Bob Noel? What were they thinking?
2) How about the hot exchanges between Goleta Council candidates?
3) How about Susan Rose suggesting people give their News-Press subscription refunds to the Measure D campaign since the NP isn't supporting it?
More than likely -- we'll se a picture and a caption and that is all....
More than likely -- we'll see additional stories on pesto, polo and Cuban cigars.
Sara, what you really mean that you get the most heated and sarcastic responses about Travis and his supervisors. Sensationalism brings back bloggers. I had heard a rumor from a higher up when this blog formed that this blog was created for the most part as a place to come and complain, criticize and ridicule Travis. I had hoped the rumor was wrong, that people had more to do with their lives than bitch time and time and time again. How does hating Travis, Wendy and others who happen to have input in the paper promote a worthwhile discussion of issues? Why do you think they have so much power? Your OBSESSION with them only serves to make more papers sell. Is that your goal? I am beginning to think there is a group of people coming to this blog with nother better to do with their lives but belittle someone else to make themselves feel better. How does that improve the quality of life in SB? I know I have an influenced viewpoint because of my personal involvment with Travis but anyone that comes here with an open mind only has to read a couple postings and they can see the theme. Pick on Travis, Pick on Wendy, Pick on Arthur. I am not saying a comment here or there isn't appropriate because each has had questional behavior. But have the slams worked so far? Have you made an impact on the articles written or the content? No, you just have normal people shaking their heads in disbelief like me reading this dribble written by angry, jealous posters. We are wondering where are all the normal people? When will this blog lift itself up from the lowlife evil comentary? God, I hope someone reading this finally has a moment where they actually think about what they post rather than just throwing some nasty, finger pointing comments down. The sister.
Yep--I saw it with my own eyes-----the new "City Beat" reporter left the Labor Day Picnic long before any of the speeches began....amazing.....
To anon 8:57 aka "the sister" -
obviously you haven't been reading this blog for any length of time.
IMHO, Blogabarbara discusses quite a bit more than TKA, the NP and media in general.
Perhaps if you'd read the archives, you'd understand this blog is extrodinarily multi-dimensional and thought provoking and pretty fairly moderated. Emotions may run high from time to time, but angry and jealous, NOT! dd
i have looked into other blogs on the subject "newsmess" and they seem to lay blame on where blame the blame is.
The SBNP is ruined and WILL never recover.
This is sad but as so many things i liked about Santa Barbara are gone now..the old charwest on state street,, now i can add another one to the list the SBNP...and dressing the paper up as a clown complet with big shoes and a red nose does not help it any.
Looking forward to the Vanity Fair issue and People may have a spred out in a future issue.
Well i'll have some fun reading with my coffee and be thankfull Monteceto has it own little rag to keep us informed oh and these Blogs.
Wonder if anyone will leave a copy on their coffee table when they have company over...just for laughs.....
Attacking labor unions on labor day weekend is a little like attacking the civil rights movement on Martin Luther King Day. But a desperate News-Press ownership, fearful that the organized employees of the newsroom will win the right to unionize, is now resorting to scare tactics. (Read more.)
To the sister... of course if people's rants about Travis et al don't work, why worry about them?
The editorials this weekend about labor were just sad. It's not personal between me and the NP crew, it is fact based. The fact is, they have really damaged what was once a kind of OK, kind of sleepy paper. (I only started reading it during the NYT period; when I read the archives of the 1962-1984 period, the paper did seem much better then).
Travis and Wendy and Vlad and the whole sorry team will soon be Santa Barbara HISTORY. These Labor Day weekend "editorials" will be infamous for their nasty tone and content.
Shame, Shame, Shame
Sad the sbnp is dead.VERY SAD there will be a long, long, long suffering pathetic ghost making a GIGANTIC BAD JOKE of the community while masquerading as paper of record/since 1855 and taking T. M. Storke into this sham. How long untill the people will have a wake? Isn't it after the grief process and burial when people can sincerely move on?
The News-Press isn't dead. Wounded, maybe. But like any wound, this one will heal. In a couple of years no one will remember this episode, just as no one talks about the "dead" newspapers in Seattle, San Francisco and Detroit that experienced labor strikes.
Let's plan a memorial.
Denial doesn't mean it ain't dying...
Mike Pinto says...
I am sorry I make people feel uncomfortable with my missives. I just think that progressives should not be measured by the amount of homes they do not want built or the anger they display over it. That isn't a movement that should have a flag in the progressive camp. It is a movement made up of haves. Haves are no better than the oil companies that are behind the war. We need to post our flag trying to stop the human misery we see on a daily basis in Santa Barbara County. I am for a free press but how free is free when the writers get paid to write? I am for workers unions but not the blood suckers that have hijacked the ideals of Samuel Gompers. I am against that Travis dude but he has only the impact on my life I allow him to.
Another HARDBALL front-page article and photo today in News-Press (Sept. 5th), all about superduper GOLF CARTS. This time, the declining daily newspaper is chasing KEYT from their TV story on Aug. 31st!!
http://www.keyt.com/news/local/3790411.html
Besides the tilting seats, do those new golf carts also include a vase for fresh-cut basil, and a holder for Cuban cigars? Steepleton is really earning his pay (NOT!) with that news judgement and pandering to the new cubbie reporters.
A publishing-savvy friend of mine in Tucson who is far wiser than I, & who I've been keeping informed about the latest developments in the ongoing News-Mess saga, had this to say:
"with regard to the n-p, here's my guess: wendy will keep the paper and run it any way she chooses. anybody who thinks she's wrong or stupid is just outa' luck, 'cuz it's her ball and nobody plays
unless she says they can. things will calm down and eventually it'll just be a crappy newspaper run by a woman who's rich enough to always get her way.
perhaps she'll eventually fill it up with syndicated type material from cheap sources and an occasional feature about a friend. but she will win the war 'cuz otherwise there's no reason to be a billionaire. just ask sumner
redstone!"
i'd just like to know, is she still a billionaire or now merely a multi-multi-millionaire?
;-)
To "Sister" You sound like a Huff and Puffer trying with all your might to blow away the odious NP blog topic.
If you have had any experience with successful blogs, you will know a smart moderator goes with the flow and interests of her bloggers. If you've been visiting over the past month, you've noticed poor Sara has tried one or twice to direct other blog discussions, but we, her bloggers, always yank her back to the NPMess.
Why? Because for decades there has not been a story this big that brings together labor, publishing, influence, money, and social oppression--and its happening right here in provincial Santa Barbara to OUR friends and families. We are witnessing the smartest people in this town pitted against the richest. It’s quite a match and, unlike the News Press, Sara has afforded us minions in the peanut gallery a forum in which to state our opinions.
And that freedom is extend to you too, Sister. However, if you are unnerved by Blogabarbara's discussion, tone and outrage of McFlaw and her NewsPress Mess, your solution is simple-- don't visit! And, quite frankly, my dear, I for one won't miss your windy huffing and puffing at all. (But I would miss Mike Pinto...so hang in there Mike...)
i wish Spendy was around to help keep us informed...what happened to her?
Thanks Sara for giving the community a place to post.
i know it's been said before but what a "mess".
how is the info at wikipedia?
5:30 pm. You are obviously one of those people I wrote about. Only want to bitch. I am taking a break from this blog because it just doesn't really matter to me. I already know the truth, I just have to pick up a phone. Thanks for the advice.
Good luck with your endeavors.
You can only kick a dead horse so long, if it's road kill toss it to the side. Those who love it will want a proper burial. Whatever life remains must rise again. What is happening at np is a GIGANTIC American tragedy. I'm not up on everything but I'm learning. The blogs are great, variety is life. This blog is excellent and I miss Spendy because I need that relief along with facts and information. I would like a Travis blog where I could read what he writes, wrote, and other views and comments. I guess Wendy needs the money, but it's disgusting she wants people to pay to see yesterdays bad writing. The same with other ghost of sbnp characters, co-publishers, activist columnists, local front page "news". I was amazed to learn Nipper had experience as a high school editor because the writing style is somewhere between an earlier grade level and country club politics. The employees are in the midst of a huge battle, however it turns out, they are the heart and true life heroes. They need support and all the community can give. I want them to strengthen and hold on. Wendyco has big reserves but she is not well and can stumble, with her team and even all the legal carp advice it's still possible they would end up in criminal court and a Mel-type fiasco, don't count on that. Fight for what you believe in. When students ask me, what's going on, if I say it's constitutional, bill of rights or workers rights they are eager to jump in and experience this current event. The soap opera these characters dramatize is also a big attraction. Halloween will be here soon, I hope to see alot of creative Wendy, Nipper, Travis, and the faux doctor costumes. Also workers and readers. You know those groups that run around town? Some informative street performances acting out the struggles. Events like a renaissance. As well flyers so people have basic information and contacts to learn more, especially legal info about signs, basics and taking photo's. If Santa Barbara can do the parades and festivals as well as it does, it can pull a little something together for a free press and free speech. I didn't bring up a wake @11:04am because I want people to bury this and pretend nothing happened. I am more like Tucson friend of Harping@5:02pm, I can see Wendy in her ivory tower ruling her little queendom by way of extensive lawyering. People write plays, satire, song,fictional novels and so worth to express when oppressed. It could be a long wait to see Wendy crumble. How to fill that time in between and get more information out? I'm looking forward to a good Halloween.
Are comments closed here? I posted @ 10:??am 9/06/06, it's 12:13pm 9/06/06. Is it my computer problems? I've had and noticed ALOT of problems. anonymous@11:04am
No there not -- I rejected a comment or two yesterday for bad language and one that was over the top -- but comments are not closed. We use comment moderation as it can get out of hand otherwise...
This may be off subject for this string, but I have to acknowledge Mike Pinto's post. It is one of the best that he has ever written. Mr. Pinto and I have disagreed before, and I have taken him to task for is doctrinaire logic; but his post on this string is absolutely right. We do have to discuss how we house the poor and disadvantaged in our community. Ignoring them is morally repugnant.
However, this discussion is not a simple one. In my younger days, I lived neighborhoods built to house the poor. Ghettos, "projects," and brazerro housing have never improved the quality of life of the poor. We have to be very careful how we design, implement, and manage such housing. Otherwise, we risk ruining existing high quality neighborhoods and creating incubators for pestilence, misery, and crime. The land use planning process is always a tedious, and even painful, balancing act between liberty and responsibility. But we have to go through it if we are to perserve our souls. This is a good place to have these debates. Maybe, when the News-Press fiasco is settled, Mike Pinto can have his wish; and we can discuss these issues in depth.
Wake up eckermann: The pestilence, misery, and crime are here - it just doesn't get reported.
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