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Saturday, May 29, 2004
Immunity to Reality
I let out a bitter, barking laugh that startled my daughter when I read this.
A senior Hamas commander, his assistant and a bystander died in a fiery Israeli air strike in Gaza City early Sunday, hours before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to confront his Cabinet over his plan to pull soldiers and settlers out of Gaza.
Hamas called the attack a "cowardly assassination crime" and said it killed Wael Nassar, 38, a top Hamas commander; his assistant, Mohammed Sarsour, 31; and an unidentified bystander. The two Hamas leaders were on the motorcycle when it exploded, witnesses said.
The Israeli military said its air force carried out the strike, aimed at "two senior Hamas commanders who were responsible for many attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings, and were planning further attacks."
Witnesses said they saw a flash in the sky before the motorcycle exploded. Outside the hospital morgue, angry Palestinians, most of them Hamas supporters, chanted "God is great." Amplified statements from local mosques mourned Nassar, one of the founders of the Hamas military wing, called Izzedine al-Qassam. Nassar planned many Hamas attacks against Israelis, Palestinians said.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zohri accused Israel of a "cowardly assassination crime," part of Israel's "bloody escalation" against the Palestinians.
[Emphasis added.]
So planning suicide bombs against civilians in cities that indiscriminately kill anyone is heroic resistance, but directly taking out one of the motherf***ers who plan the killings is cowardly.
Right.
Pardon me while I don't mourn the loss.
Sleepy, Sleepy
 Looks to be a lazy Memorial Day weekend. Posting may or may not take place. Hopefully everyone is enjoying the time, and appreciating those who made it possible. 
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Alcoholic Editorials
Looks like I'm not the only one that seems to have alcohol on the brain lately.
Two cities in different states. Two editorials about liquor controls.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review takes a happy smack at the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's glee at announcing record sales, all because the PLCB has found a need to compete to keep sales in state. The editorial continues to wish for the day when the state monopoly of liquor sales is ended and private competition is permitted.
The local paper, the News-Herald offers its support for Ohio passing legislation to permit Sunday liquor sales at last. I mentioned this on Sunday. It notes that even the Ohio chapter of MADD didn't take a position on the legislation when it was introduced.
I'll drink to both.
Prelude
Power went out just as was about to get my shower this morning. Stayed off for around 45 minutes or so -- from around 6:30 to 7:15 am. We have gas heat, so I could still shower by the light of candles -- we decided to keep them in easier reach after last year's blackout. Not sure what caused it, but it affected Eastlake and Willoughby.
This casts a bit of a shadow over what was expected to be a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. Other than spending time with the wife and kid I just had household items to do. Figured on doing some work around the house. Doing some organizing of clutter and finally packing up the winter clothes. Now, we're going to wonder if and when the power will go next. Not a huge thing, just one of those little nags in the background.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Eastlake Update
A company called Lake Community News (no actual site) produces a monthly paper for many Lake County cities. The Eastlake version, The Eastlake Gazette, arrived today (no website). For the most part it has local ads, some community news, ads appearing to be articles, and brief columns from the Mayor and the Councilmen.
This was Mayor George Spinner's first go at the "Mayor's Report." It wasn't exactly overwhelming, but it was short. As the wife put it when she glanced at it, "Should I be concerned that he chose to quote Lyndon Johnson?" Summarizing his report would amount to: Buck up people. We'll get this fixed and all will be well.
Three of the Councilmen out of the seven (4 wards and 3 at-large) had brief columns. You would like to think all members of the city council would offer their views on the financial problems, but apparently not.
Lajueunesse's (Ward 4) welcomed the new mayor, said he saw this coming, sort of, "Those of you who have been following the local papers, now see some of the isses I have been loudly hinting at over the past year." Way to take credit for hedging. He then continues by lauding the job done by former Mayor DiLiberto. Now I'm just confused as to who he feels was responsible for the fiscal mess that is Eastlake. Apparently this sort of thing, just happens.
Curtis (Ward 1)says that Council was in the dark over the fiscal problems because they never received adequate information on audits and the overall budget. Rest assured, though, she has now introduced legislation to rectify that problem. Also, she wants levies passed.
Andrzejewski (Ward 3) focuses on the stadium in relation to the deficit. He declares that since he became a councilman in January he has reviewed the stadium lease, and is shocked, shocked to find that it is totally one-sided to the team owners. "They get all ticket sales, revenue, concessions, parking around the stadium and all advertising on the outfield fences, and luxury suite revenues. The city and residents of Eastlake get a flat rent dollar amount each year and parking revenue from the city owned lot. Tom Chema [the stadium consultant] and the former Mayor, in my opinion, gave away everything to get the team here." He wants the lease renegotiated ( yeah, that's going to happen), and a $1 per ticket tax added (raising the tickets from $8 to $9) to help pay down the stadium debt.
In tangentially related news, a special election was just held in neighboring Ashtabula County for a 3-year, 1.8-percent income tax renewal issue in the City of Ashtabula. The measure passed. The thing to note, was that since it was a special election, the turnout was ridiculously low. 10,000 eligible voters and only 1294 voted. This of course, was what the proponents hoped would happen.
"Usually a light turnout is favorable for the passage of an issue because it's the supporters that get out and vote," he said.
This is also what Eastlake officials are hoping will happen with their August 3 vote on the levy.
Colorado Football -- Way Off
According to reports, The University of Colorado will reinstate Gary Barnett as head football coach. I heard a lot of complaining about this on the sports radio and TV today. Part of me, can't help but think that part of the reason for the "outrage," is that, like me, they believed Barnett would be fired and predicted it.
Part of my total whiff on expecting Barnett to be fired was how the University of Colorado Board of Regents -- rather than pressure the University President to make some real changes -- appeared to have closed ranks around her after reviewing then delivering the report to her.
Hoffman received strong backing from Regents Chairman Peter Steinhauer and other board members, some of whom hugged her before the meeting began in front of a crowd that included the parents of football players.
"Now is the time to heal," Steinhauer said. "I want to make it crystal clear that we have the utmost confidence in President Hoffman."
After that meeting, President Betsy Hoffman issued a statement effectively declaring that the Chancellor's job was safe.
The reports have yet to say anything about the status of Athletic Director, Dick Tharp, accept to say that "no other changes are planned for the athletic department." That kind of suggests he is safe. As long as Tharp is there, Barnett still has a key ally.
It's funny. After the report came out, Barnett said he was vindicated. You had some columnists saying that since there was no smoking gun, Barnett should get his job back. I have to say, that I didn't expect them to find a smoking gun. The key was always plausible deniability. It skirted close to ridiculous and challenging believability, but it was maintained.
Of course now that Barnett looks to have his job back, those same columnists who said he should return ask whether he'll survive much longer because of wins and losses. Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com has an intriguing column talking about the tension on the campus towards the football team, and athletics in general. How Boulder is a "unique situation." That issue seems to be getting a lot of play lately, at least impliedly. This article is one of the first national pieces to air it out. The article seems to have a hard time addressing a seeming trichotomy between the liberalness of Boulder County in general and the PC-ness of the University; the school athletics and the hard partying life of the students; and the very whiteness of the school and Boulder generally. Or as Maisel puts it:
No matter the vantage point on the current state of Colorado football -- and this controversy has more facets than the Hope diamond -- there is general agreement that the circus that has transpired could happen only in Boulder.
All it takes is a recipe of liberal politics, arrogant coaches, condescending faculty, libertine lifestyles, racial imbalance and a long-simmering battle between town and gown. Mix well and bake in the glare of competitive media -- Denver, 25 miles down the highway, is one of the last two-newspaper cities in America -- and what started as rape accusations too fuzzy to prosecute became a national symbol for college football programs run amuck.
The race issue is a particularly touchy third rail. Colorado does not exactly have a large black population ( 3.8% of the 4,506,542 residents according to the 2000 census). The University of Colorado at Boulder has only 448 black students out of 32,041 on the whole campus (1.4%). The 2003-04 freshmen class of 5571 had 85 black students (1.5%), of which 15 were on football scholarship. Boulder County is even whiter. The population of 279,197 has a black population of about 2513 (0.9%).
My biggest problem with the article is the way it acts as if football isn't actually liked in Boulder. This is a program that has done more than merely tread water in the Big XII. This program has been successful for decades, won championships, plays to packed houses, generates big money and pays coaches really well. Some of it seems to be Maisel attempting to offer some cover to the football program -- that it has been a victim of circumstances.
Commencement
Skipped mine in college. Really didn't think much of the one I attended in Law School. Of course, getting sage advice from Jon Stewart would have been a different matter (via Sullivan).
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
No Changes
I don't know whether Ohio will go Republican or Democrat in the Presidential election. I do know that at the state level Ohio will remain firmly in the control of Republicans. Not that the Republican party in this state is that good or smart (there's that whole Householder-Blackwell thing going on right now), or that the Republican politicians are that beloved (find anyone with something nice to say about Gov. Taft these days). No, it's because the Ohio Democratic Party is just that dumb.
I've been meaning to blog this for over a week, but kept forgetting. The Ohio Democratic Party held it's 2004 state dinner on May 11, where they announced their delagates to the 2004 convention in Boston. They also announced their 2004 Democrat of the Year -- Jerry Springer.
Yes. That Jerry Springer.
How did he get selected? Why?
After receiving the award, Springer addressed the Democrats' annual dinner. By all accounts, he riveted the partisan crowd, hitting the themes of health care and the economy and belittling President George W. Bush's record on both. Only once, and only among a select few, did the irony of the honoree cause muted snickers. That was when Springer talked of the need to restore "human dignity." (Among this week's episodes: "Wake Up, I'm Cheating!" and "Girls Gone Wrong."
Democrats don't vote for Democrat of the Year. The honor is bestowed by the party's chairman, Denny White, who said Springer deserved the distinction because he has provided the party with something it desperately needs: money.
"He's been very generous with his resources," White said. "He's given over a quarter of a million in contributions and he's been to 50 of the 88 counties and helped them raise money."
Springer has become the speaker of choice for many local parties. He pays his own travel expenses. He charges no appearance fee. Across Ohio, county chairs say he's helped them attract record-setting crowds and collect the kind of money they only dreamed of in the past.
Okay, ten points for a sort of honesty and about the importance of money in politics and an additional five for style, but minus several millions for the actual choice.
Not that you will find the information in their press releases or blog or " Comments on the 2004 State Dinner." In fact, funny thing, you use the "search" function in the press release section for "Springer" and nothing is found. Think about it, the Ohio Democratic Party Website has no press release announcing its Democrat of the Year. Suggesting perhaps, that at least the people running the website knew how stupid this choice was.
Of course the Ohio Repbulican Party website has a press release on it.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Eastlake Update
It may be only a small amount compared to the total deficit in Eastlake, but the city owes another $32,000.
The city of Eastlake will have to spend $32,000 to replace wetlands that were destroyed when the Eastlake Ballpark was constructed.
The land on which the minor-league stadium was built, at Route 91 and Vine Street, included 0.89 acres of wetlands, City Engineer Steve Guard said.
The money is going to go to wetlands that are being restored in the Trumbull Creek Wetlands Mitigation Bank between Ashtabula and Geauga Counties.
Funny how those incidental expenses with constructing the ballpark keep piling up on Eastlake. But I'm sure all the tax revenue from the economic development will more than make up for it. Any day now...
The News-Herald Editorial Board also takes note of the vacation and sick time payments coming to several recently resigned Eastlake officials.
I'm really not sure what their view on the matter is, other than a bemused, half-hearted cluck-clucking of it.
On the public payroll, it's different. In many governments, including cities, villages and townships, it is not only possible but quite proper to accumulate both unused vacation time and unused sick days.
Something else that is noticeable about these "benefits" is that there is no pattern to them. They are whatever local regulations say they will be. Cities and villages fix them by ordinance. And there seem to be no two ordinances that are exactly alike.
A story in Friday's paper pointed out that governing bodies throughout the area come up with their own rules for entitlements due departing workers as they relate to sick time and vacation time.
The article was prompted by a news story the previous day about lump sum cash payments to three departed Eastlake officials ...
The relevant city ordinance states that all such payouts will be lump sum settlements. There was nothing illegal or even borderline unethical about the payments. They are all covered in the ordinance.
What is unusual is that such payoffs never happen for people in private sector jobs. From time to time we read about huge "golden parachute" payoffs to departing top executives, but never to the rank and file.
But in public employment, lump sums paid for sick time and vacation time are commonplace.
...
But indeed, payout policies throughout the area are a crazy quilt pattern of inconsistencies. Whether state law should cover the subject is another matter. Perhaps this is a subject that should remain under local control on the theory that local officials know what is best.
There is an undeniable benefit to the worker on the public payroll, however, and it is one that parents should make certain their kids understand before they make lifetime career choices:
All other things being equal, working for the government is not a bad way to go, especially when it comes time to cash that check for unused sick days and vacation time.
And that was the abridged version. They seemed to write a lot to have no real view. Here was my jaundiced eye's perspective of the matter for comparison.
Many act outraged, I find myself shrugging. This is never a surprise when a longtime fixture in a municipal government leaves (at least in Ohio), a similar result just took place in Lakewood when their longtime mayor finally lost an election. She had some huge number of hours built up over the years.
Having never worked in the government sector the tradition of allowing unused vacation and sick hours accumulate without ever expiring used to puzzle me. Then I realized that those who could change the law are the same people who benefit from the present situation. They can express their outrage when a member leaves and the news of how much they are collecting leaks out, but they won't actually do anything about it. They have to bide their time until it is their turn to collect.
Not that different from the News-Herald, but in my favor: a lot less words.
Liquor Laws and Markets
A really interesting article from the Wall Street Journal (subscription req'd) on the new aggressiveness by the liquor industry in the marketing and sales -- competing more and more against beer. The reason, Diageo PLC. Diageo is now the largest manufacturer and distributer of liquor in the US after its recent acquistion of Seagram Company.
Pennsylvania is a "control" state, where liquor is sold exclusively through state-owned stores with limited hours -- and, for decades, those hours didn't include Sundays. Then, in early 2002, Diageo arrived on the scene. The London-based liquor giant lobbied legislators to permit Sunday sales and allow in-store tastings. The state even opened liquor outlets in supermarkets.
After decades of losing out to beer, the U.S. liquor industry is fighting back. The main reason: In Diageo, it finally has a player strong enough to go head-to-head against longtime beer titan Anheuser-Busch Cos. Diageo, which snapped up most of Seagram Co. three years ago, now controls about 27% of the U.S. liquor market. That huge stake has given the company the marketing muscle and political clout to begin changing the laws and competitive dynamics that have held liquor back since the end of Prohibition.
Over the decades, beer companies have flooded the airwaves with commercials and plied Congress and statehouses with lobbyists. Producers of hard liquor have played a less-aggressive game. They feared that pushing their product too hard would spur a backlash in a country where liquor has had a bad image.
Diageo now is launching an unapologetic battle to bring liquor back, and has won a number of big victories along the way. It has helped persuade nine states -- including Massachusetts, New York and Oregon -- to allow some form of liquor sales on Sundays, raising the total number of such states to 30. It now has a presence in every state capital, where beer lobbyists have long outnumbered their liquor rivals.
Diageo also has been the driving force behind an effort to beef up the industry's lobbying group, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, or Discus. Several years ago, Diageo hired Guy Smith, a senior lobbyist for Philip Morris and a key public-relations adviser to President Clinton during his impeachment hearings, to help the group's efforts.
It makes sense, that the lobbying has to be big to get any changes. Alcohol is one of the most heavily regulated products at all levels of government from the federal down to the local municipality. I mean, look at Ohio. A list of its various fees for whether you manufacture, serve, or sell alcohol. How about the fact that every particular brand of alcohol, from the latest offering from a brew pub to a new wine from California has to be submitted to the state for approval to be sold in Ohio.
There's a lot of backstory about how past efforts in the 80s to bring liquor more into the mainstream were attempted and thwarted. Beer manufacturers -- especially Anheuser-Busch -- were very effective at beating back any inroads attempted by liquor companies.
As the new industry leader, Diageo in 2001 launched an aggressive gambit to "crack the beer occasion," as executives termed it. Its new product, a malt beverage called Smirnoff Ice, was brewed like a beer and contained spirits flavoring -- but it didn't have any vodka, so it enjoyed the same freedom of distribution and advertisement as beer. It soon became a billion-dollar-per-year product for Diageo.
...
The success of Smirnoff Ice infuriated Anheuser-Busch, according to industry officials -- especially when Diageo managed to get ads on the air during the 2001 Super Bowl. Anheuser-Busch had signed on with CBS as the exclusive malt-beverage advertiser, but Diageo got around that by buying air time allotted to local CBS affiliates during the telecast.
By late 2001, Diageo's drink had stolen 1% of the U.S. beer market. Anheuser-Busch was forced to get into flavored malt beverages itself, say industry analysts. In 2003, Smirnoff Ice shipments from wholesalers to retailers, a key measure, totaled 15 million 2.25-gallon cases. Anheuser-Busch's Bacardi Silver reached four million cases in the same period, according to Impact.
Confession: I don't like the "flavored malt beverages" or "malternatives" like Bacardi Silver, Smirnoff Ice and the ilk. They feel like lead in my stomach, when I've tried them. The taste is too sweet. I'll stick to beer and liquor for my alcohol.
It is interesting to see that this has become the big battleground right now, though it may be a fad that fades and costs Diageo down the road. Anyone care for a wine cooler?
You almost have to bet on Anheuser-Busch to come out on top. They've been at it so long, and they keep making it more difficult for any rivals.
Anheuser-Busch fought every inch of the way. Mike Owens, vice president for sales for Anheuser-Busch, urged distributors who carried both Anheuser-Busch and Diageo brands to dump the liquor maker's products. "Diageo ... is well financed and made up of young, aggressive, well-educated managers who are out to take our share," Mr. Busch told an internal sales conference in the spring of 2002, according to people who were there and reported at the time by Beer Marketer's Insights, a trade publication. "Just that simple. We are not going to let them do it." Anheuser-Busch declines to comment on the speech.
In March 2002, NBC dumped Diageo, citing pressure from unspecified advocacy groups and some members of Congress. Executives at Diageo and others within the broadcast industry say privately they believe NBC was afraid of angering Anheuser-Busch, which spent about $53 million on the network that year, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, a market-research group. An NBC spokesman says, "During good-faith conversations with members of congress from both parties, NBC was asked to reconsider its advertising test. We agreed to do that."
...
Around the same time, Diageo took another blow when the beer industry successfully lobbied the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) for a radical change in the rules on the recipe for beverages like Smirnoff Ice, dubbed "malternatives." Under the proposed new rules, if Diageo wants its malternatives to continue to be considered part of the beer category and not hard liquor, it will have to completely reformulate Smirnoff Ice and its other malternatives, change its production systems and restock the products.
The new rule dictates that a flavored malt beverage can obtain only 0.5% of its alcohol by volume from spirits flavoring. Currently, the majority of alcohol in Smirnoff Ice comes from spirits flavorings. The final decision likely will come this year, and Diageo is preparing for the heavy expense of this changeover.
"They want to be us, but they're not us," said August Busch IV, president of the brewer's North American business, at an industry-group meeting in autumn 2002, according to people who were there. "We are aggressively resisting the kinds of changes that the liquor industry is seeking and at the same time helping to promote the very special role of beer in American society."
Diageo Chief Executive Paul Walsh admits that the company may have underestimated the political power of Anheuser-Busch. "I admire Anheuser-Busch. They have a great business and maybe if I were in their position I would try to protect these barriers as well," he says.
I do find it interesting that Diageo seems to view the malternatives as something of a gateway to the real hard liquor. It's not really explored in the story, but that seems to be the implication and purpose of the product line to some degree. Trade on the brand name to a younger demographic and hope to draw them to the real stuff down the road.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
And Ohio Looks to Take the Lead
Well over a year ago, I noted that Pennsylvania had inched slightly ahead of Ohio in moving out of the prohibition era with the decision to open some liquor stores for Sunday sales.
The Sunday hours and opening of some "liquor store outlets" near state lines actually pushed Pennsylvania liquor sales to new highs. Ohio, though, appeared to be drawing even with the changes in the law to allow microbreweries to brew certain beers with higher alcohol content -- similar the levels in wine; and the first liquor store to take advantage of an obscure 5 year old law to sell liquor on Sunday.
Now it looks like Ohio will be allowing almost all liquor stores to operate on Sunday, provided the county where the liquor store is based permits bars and restaurants to sell operate and sell liquor on Sunday.
The Ohio House is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a bill that would allow liquor stores to sell alcohol from 1 p.m. to midnight on Sundays, if residents in the area have already voted to allow bars or restaurants to sell hard liquor on Sundays.
The Senate overwhelmingly passed a slightly different version of the bill in February, making it a good bet it will reach the governor's desk.
Gov. Bob Taft has not taken a position on the bill, though supporters are optimistic, because the governor has not publicly opposed it.
...
The bill has attracted little opposition in the legislature, even though it would overturn 71 years of tradition. Not one person testified against the bill at numerous committee hearings in the House or Senate, and only a handful of lawmakers have voted against it.
"Overturn 71 years of tradition?" A stupid post-prohibitionist bann on the sale of liquor on Sunday is a tradition?
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