Found poetry exercises
Matt recently posted some responses to his search for reader-found poems. The results are quite fascinating. Perhaps my favorite is one cobbled from CNN headlines. Check them out for yourself.
the smedley log - suburban scrawl
Buying local
America’s Hometown is where I first caught word of “Buy Local Philly Month.”
Novel approach. It seems instead of simply bashing certain large and impersonal chain stores, they’ve decided to focus on promoting locally-based businesses. Apparently, when you spend your money at locally-owned stores, more of that money goes back into the local economy—who’d have thought?
So in the spirit of May being “Buy Local Philly Month,” I’m going to try not to mention a certain evil retail giant for at least a week or two.
RE: Chicken Little
Fred notices James Howard Kunstler’s excerpt in Rolling Stone, and wonders if it’s really all that bad. Actually, it appears he desperately wants someone to convince him it’s not.
The opening paragraph of the Rolling Stone excerpt:
A few weeks ago, the price of oil ratcheted above fifty-five dollars a barrel, which is about twenty dollars a barrel more than a year ago. The next day, the oil story was buried on page six of the New York Times business section. Apparently, the price of oil is not considered significant news, even when it goes up five bucks a barrel in the span of ten days. That same day, the stock market shot up more than a hundred points because, CNN said, government data showed no signs of inflation. Note to clueless nation: Call planet Earth.
Maybe after reading the piece, someone out there will feel a gust of confindence to help reassure Fred…
Cell phone coverage maps, greener grass, etc.
Dan Gillmor notes the new T-Mobile coverage maps. You just put in your address (or the address of where you’d like to check their coverage), and see what comes up.
I’d have to commend this type of street-level mapping, especially because it doesn’t really give such a glowing report on my specific location. And I was really considering a cell phone migration this year, if I could find the right deal. T-Mobile was in the running, but now, I’m not so sure. Still, this is a pretty interesting development for a cellular industry which, up to this point, is generally evasive about giving such detailed information to its customers.
This is a note of curiosity: It’s not that I’m so unhappy with my current carrier, and I realize I could be playing with fire, but I’d love to hear what other folks in the Philadelphia area think of their cell carriers, just in case…
Wal-Mart, unions and benefits
Cziltang has further expanded the stream of thought on this general subject (here and here). I fully intend to offer my own deeper thoughts on unions and benefits, not so much as a response, but simply because his posts have given me a few ideas for clarification. More later…
Cross-border abortions regulated
Dragonballyee (again, yes) responds to last night’s passage of a bill that will “make it illegal to dodge parental-consent laws by taking minors across state lines for abortions.”
I understand there is opposition to parental-consent laws, but I don’t completely understand why. As indicated by an old blog entry, I have a little bit of a problem with the belief that this sort of decision (involving potentially complicated surgical procedures) should invariably be left to a minor. I guess I wouldn’t mind if someone wanted to offer a more detailed version of what’s wrong with parental-consent laws or this current legislation specifically.
Think of all the things that we don’t leave to minors to decide for themselves, and then think of all the incredibly valid reasons for not letting minors make such decisions. I guess, given all the potential for complication, I’ve always been uneasy with allowing a minor make what could amount to an incredibly permanent choice all by him/herself, whether or not that choice involves abortion.
Tom Carter also posted on this topic a couple days ago, and I tend to think he’s got a point in mentioning the full faith and credit clause as another valid reason why this type of legislation is almost implicit in the constitution.
Donnie Brasco at the free library
Dragonballyee covered the free library appearances of Ed Conlon and Joe Pistone.
Interesting stuff. He warned us about the event ahead of time, but I couldn’t make it.
Johnny Sample
Johnny Sample passed away earlier today at the age of 67. A great football player, beloved sports commentator and radio personality, a Philadelphian, and man who could be counted on to speak the truth as he saw it. He’ll be missed.
How about just chipping away a little, please?
Cziltang analyzes some of the same Wal-Mart information I sifted through last weekend, but he comes to a slightly different point of view on it.
I encourage you to read his thoughts on it. He doesn’t merely voice his opinion on Wal-Mart, but he analyzes the basic financial breakdown of what might become of the big blue retailer’s $10 billion profit, should Wal-Mart go full-tilt in favor of social responsibility. Drawing on numbers from the UFCW, he chips away at the gargantuan profit margin, until he ends up relocating it firmly in the red. His analysis is worth a read, and brings up a side of the discussion that is legitimate:
Now remember, Wal-Mart is a huge company that made $10 billion in profit last year so they’ve got the money to treat their employees right if they wanted to or were forced to, right? Except that that “average” $3.73 per hour raise to bring the “average” employee up to the BFB requirement costs an “average” $8.5 billion dollars. And picking up the health care coverage tab costs another $3.4 billion. (That’s $11.9 billion for those playing along at home.)
So now that $10 billion per year profit is now a $1.9 billion per year loss. … (read the whole post)
I don’t argue with his math. Even if it isn’t perfect, it’s pretty close. My only argument is that of all the people (like me) railing against Sam Walton’s legacy of corporate greed, very few expect a Wal-Mart job to be the best career choice in terms of wages and benefits. Of course you don’t take a job at the cash register of your local Wal-Mart to strike it rich, or in most cases, to even live comfortably. But when a company consistently makes so much money, it can, and should do more to help its own employees, especially when said company has been consistently recognized as contributing more than any other company to welfare and medicaid costs. We don’t need to have Wal-Mart cashiers making fifteen dollars an hour and receiving earth-shattering benefit packages. But wouldn’t it help just a little to have at least one of those things happen? Or how about moving half-way on each ideal?
No reasonable person wants Wal-Mart to go under, resulting in a million people being added to the unemployment list. But if Wal-Mart could only reach half of the ideal, wouldn’t that be better than nothing?
I think so, and I think a lot of those UFCW organizers would be pretty happy to just get that much for hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart workers who desperately need it. And is there really any excuse if Wal-Mart isn’t even trying?
The outsider agenda
Funky posts on MoveOn.org’s About statement. He brings up a good point, and suggests, that since MoveOn purports to seek the opinion input of everyday Americans, why shouldn’t more everyday Americans get involved in that input process?
I’m all for it. I don’t agree with everything in the MoveOn agenda as it currently stands, but I also don’t agree with the general direction of our government over the past decade and a half (basically that covers the time that I’ve really been paying attention). So, on the chance that MoveOn’s statement is sincere, what’s it gonna’ hurt to add my voice to the mix? Or yours, for that matter? Funky reasons it out well enough, so why not read his post on the matter?
There is a basic truth to this idea that democracy really only works when its members participate.
The essence of the blog
Omni posts an interesting entry on the true nature of the blog movement (if it can be wrangled into one such thing). She targets several different types of sites she believes don’t adhere to the basic essence of blogging—a belief that some will share and others will shun. I see a lot of truth in her writing, not just on this issue, but on many issues. This one is interesting, and it makes me wish she had commenting on her site, because I have a feeling she would generate quite a discussion on this topic alone.
Whatever the true essence of the blog is, I share her hope (or maybe confidence) that when the pop furor over weblogs dies down, there will still be plenty of worthwhile blogs to peruse. In fact, maybe the ones that die out will be most of the non-essentials she describes in her post.
Read “Non-blog blogging trends”
This week’s Wal-Mart admiration post
Wal-Mart is the sort of company for which superlatives were invented. Just named the number-one corporation on the Fortune 500 list for the fourth year in a row, the country’s largest private employer pulled down roughly $288 billion in revenue last year – and over $10 billion in pure profit.That’s larger than the annual GDP of Saudi Arabia. Five of the top 10 richest Americans hail from the Walton family. And yet Wal-Mart is what former President Ronald Reagan might refer to as, well, a welfare queen… (Read the rest of the story)
I’d like to add something to this, but all I can say is I completely agree with the columnist… No, wait, I can say more: for all the slamming that unions get in this country, many of the other large employers in the U.S. have significant union presence within their workforces. Do you really think it’s a coincidence that the employer most known for squashing union organizing drives to facilitate not only low prices and wages, but also record profits, is also the employer that puts the biggest drain on the public welfare system? Do you think Wal-Mart’s anti-labor policies have to do with anything but greed?
I know some people have a bad view of the labor movement in this country, and maybe they even have good reasons for those negative feelings (beyond simple greed). But Wal-Mart’s operation is soaked in greed, not some highly principled ethic to protect their workers from the “evil” unions. Add to that the simple fact that most communities that welcome Wal-Mart into the neighborhood only see the local economy worsen in its wake. Then consider the tax money that all of us end up contributing to the welfare drain created by that shiny new super center down the street. For the negative view some have of organized labor, let me offer this: The guy who retires with a good union pension takes less of your tax money for his social security. The family supported by a good job with good medical benefits, similar to what most union workers have, isn’t likely to be joining the welfare or medicaid rolls; the family supported by a Wal-Mart employee, under current conditions, is.
Factor that into your “everyday low prices.”
And now for the fake news…
Fifth-Grade Science Paper Doesn’t Stand Up to Peer Review
-yeah, it’s not really news, but I couldn’t pass it up.
Vindicating Time, but indicting the news media
John Cloud, the Time magazine staff writer who penned the article on Ann Coulter, is interviewed. He takes the opportunity to defend his relatively maligned piece on one of America’s most politically venomous vixens, as well as Time’s decision to put her on the cover.
I mention that only for background, as I haven’t read the magazine article he’s been catching so much heat for writing. Whether or not he should be vindicated for his article, the last paragraph of the piece says something with which I basically agree:
What I’ll say is that I think Eric Alterman and Ann Coulter engage in the same kind of debate. They don’t often make actual arguments. Instead, they throw names around. This is the point of my article. This is the way politics is engaged in debate now. And I think that his response to my article proves our point that this kind of dialogue, which is the Ann Coulter kind of dialogue, now holds sway.
Absent my personal views on either Alterman or Coulter, this really is the way we’ve learned to play politics, and it’s part of why I hate the way we play.
Honest discourse gets shouted down by an insufferable throng of pundits who have only self-promotion and tiresome talking points to fuel their rhetoric. Discerning where the fault lies for this brand of idiocy is something of a chicken-vs.-egg exercise; is it the media’s fault for feeding the masses this garbage, or is the audience at fault because they (really, we) clamor for it?
[Read more →]
2 questions
Paris Hilton Cuts Ties With Nicole Richie
“It’s no big secret that Nicole and I are no longer friends,” Hilton said in a statement Wednesday. “Nicole knows what she did, and that’s all I’m ever going to say about it.”
Last week, Hilton, 24, told USA Today that Richie will be replaced on “The Simple Life” by her friend Kimberly Stewart, the daughter of singer Rod Stewart….
First, does the Hilton quote remind anyone else of about a thousand similar statements you heard some girl make in high school (maybe even junior high)? Second, what is it with Paris Hilton’s “best friend” collection being overstocked with daughters of over-the-hill pop stars? Not being the biggest follower of the dramedic life of Paris Hilton, I almost mistook the Kimberly Stewart mention as a tell-tale sign that this was an Onion article in disguise.
Strange bedfellows
If you haven’t seen the 60-second spot for the ONE campaign, you can view it by clicking the above link. All those Hollywood types were starting to make me suspect something very sneaky and suspicious, but then, near the end, I was comforted by the visage and voice of Pat Robertson; this assured me that the ONE campaign is not simply a ploy by the homosexual rights advocacy groups—nope, no gay cartoon characters in this one.
But seriously, the ONE campaign is a good cause, and I hope you’ll take a peak at it, maybe even help out. If you’re not familiar with the ONE campaign, go to www.ONE.org for more information.
Benedict XVI
Rome elects a new Supreme Pontiff—I’m too shallow to offer anything that hasn’t been offered on thousands of other outlets by now. I’m just acknowledging that my head hasn’t been totally buried in the sand today. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of Pope Benedict XVI will be, especially after all the “expert” predictions of what the election of an older Pope would signify, directionwise, for the Roman Catholic Church.
UPDATE: Karl at Philly Future offers enlightenment regarding the growing Wikipedia documentation on the new Pope.
Put your John Hancock right there
Richard at connexions wants bloggers’ autographs for a book of such signatures he’s trying to put together. I’ll probably send one via snail mail. If you’re interested, or just curious, read his post here.
If I could be like Mike
When I was young man, somewhere in the wasteland of junior high school, I found a personal hero, someone who was what I one day hoped to be. He plied his trade in the windy city of Chicago, and I suspect—no, I know, that many other people have looked up to him over the years. The grace and style he showed as he did his work, along with his professional longevity and charm may never be rivaled again. At least not in my eyes.
It all started when I got into the habit of reading the Op-Ed page of the local paper at the age of twelve or so. I wasn’t so interested in the local writers; it was the syndicated columnists that caught my eye. Especially one legendary Chicago newsman. Anybody remember him? I know it’s been a while, but that’s who I dreamed of emulating when I was growing up—I wanted to be Mike Royko.
And now for the awkward segue:
After I started drafting this impromptu little revelation, I noticed a Philly Future post from marjomoore. It was capped with the question: “What do you think? Do people read columnists (or A-list bloggers, for that matter) for their information or their points of view?”
To me, it seems obvious that most of us read who we read because of their point of view. It’s not to say that we never read to acquire sheer information, but I seriously doubt we choose our star columnists for how much information they present; we read who we read because we like how they present the information. And relax, because that doesn’t necessarily mean we all gravitate to monotone ideologists like Michelle Malkin or Jim Hightower.
Don’t get me wrong about either of the preceding examples—I’ve read and at times enjoyed both of them (though not all the time), but I suspect that for most of us, dry, straight-line political ideologies fit like a cheap suit. Even when it’s close to fitting, there’s still that little bit that rubs you the wrong way.
So, when I mention a man like Mike Royko, I bring him into the columnist question in the sense that he didn’t write from a sheer left or right-wing persona, as so many columnist do today. His point of view, his style cut both ways, though some will definitely remember his predominant leaning as being toward the left. But the factor that’s been lost on so many modern opinion writers is the one thing he possessed that made him a hot commodity, until the day he died: It was his style. It was the most predictable facet of his writing, and it was why I sought out his columns as often as they were printed.
I still read the Op-ed’s today, and I just don’t know if I can say the same about 99% of the ink that gets spilled on them anymore. Makes me wish I hadn’t abandoned my dream of journalism years ago—I’m sure I could never have matched him in the style department, but somebody’s got to try.
For those interested, or just clueless about who Mike Royko was, his wikipedia link is here, and they’ve also published two posthumous collections of his old columns in the past nine years since he passed. They are:
One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko
For the Love of Mike : More of the Best of Mike Royko
Perhaps my personal favorite, which appears in the first volume, is a recollection of his childhood visit to Wrigley Field to see Jackie Robinson’s first Major League appearance in Chicago. But I recommend both books.
Suddenly feeling generous
Well, baseball in Philadelphia has been a subject of conversation with some mixed results. Over the past couple days, the results have been better (here and here), but the relationship for local fans has still been of the love-hate variety. (Still, it beats talking about a wide receiver asking for contract re-negotiation one year into a seven-year deal.)
So we’ve been distracted lately, but The Long Cut shares a story of having to react quickly when he and his family happened upon Phillies GM Ed Wade at the mall yesterday afternoon. The current mood being what it is, he found a bright spot as he pointed out the maligned sports executive to his son.
And oh, will there be Philadlephia horses running in the Derby again, in the post-Smarty Jones era?
