Breakin’ Unions

One of Germany’s largest unions gets broken:

FRANKFURT, Germany—Workers filed back through plant gates Monday in east Germany after the country’s heavyweight industrial union abandoned a strike for a shorter work week - its worst setback in almost 50 years and a boost for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s efforts to shake up the stagnant economy…

The IG Metall manufacturing union, Germany’s most militant, last abandoned a strike in 1954. Union leaders called off the job action over the weekend after employers refused to budge on the union’s demand to cut eastern industry’s work week from 38 hours to 35.

Keep in mind that they are fighting for a 35 hour workweek in an area where they have 18% unemployment.  You’d think they’d be happy to be people who actually have jobs.

On the bright side, the German people aren’t as stupid as the unions.  The strike was massively unpopular - even among union members.

The EU Supports Home Schooling

Oh wait.  No they don’t:

“When fundamental human rights and certain traditions collide, it is the traditions that must change,” Diamantopoulou said. In some Gypsy communities, traditions such as the buying and selling of young brides and keeping children out of school are still common.

I won’t attempt to pronounce that guy’s name.  I realize that he is probably referring to parents who keep their kids out of school and don’t educate them, but that’s an awfully broad statement.

Quick - Change the Topic!

When your losing the battle, change battlefields:

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa has been accused of trying to steal an election with his recall campaign against embattled California Governor Gray Davis. Now, as first reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, it has emerged that Issa was arrested in 1980 for allegedly trying to steal his own car.

BTW - when an writer says “has been accused” it usually means that he/she is the one doing the accusing.

Texas Concealed Carry

Gov Perry has signed a bill which removes most government buildings from the list of places where concealed carry is prohibited.

Those who object to this on grounds that it presents an increased threat overlook one huge fact.  The people who get concealed carry licenses aren’t the one’s you need to worry about.  Save the worry for those who don’t give a damn about the law and who aren’t going to let the fact that it’s illegal deter them.  Concealed carry permits are only available to the most law abiding folks.  To even qualify for a concealed carry permit you can’t have anything more than a Class C misdemeanor on your record (that’s the equivalent of a traffic ticket).

Patrick Dennehy

Could this be a break in the mysterious Baylor basketball disappearance case?

The story has been the big news around here for about a week now.  We had reporters and camera crews all over the law school today.  They managed to get in the way at just about every turn.

Katharine Hepburn

I know I’ll probably get death threats for this, but… I really think our collective praise is misplaced when we heap it on Katharine Hepburn.  Perhaps I’m too young to have been smitten by her.  I’ve seen some of her movies and they were very good and she played her part very well.  She should be honored for her work and she was, with countless awards.

But she was not a laudable person.  She carried on a decades long affair with a married man.  She shamed Mrs. Tracy by publicly carrying on her affair.  These are not the traits of a woman with “class”.

Ms. Hepburn was a great actress, a beautiful woman, and a significant fixture of the 20th century.  May she rest in peace, but I’ll direct my praise elsewhere.

Sword Attack

One case with sooooo much for the trial lawyers to sink their teeth into:

The 30-year-old man confronted an officer before fellow officers shot him, said Lt. Jeff Love. Parker was taken to the hospital and did not survive. One of the wounded was an Albertsons employee and two others were customers, police said. Police did not release the names of the dead or wounded.

Parker had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, his mother, Susan Davis, said in an interview Sunday from rural Ford, Virginia. He also was a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician….

Davis said Parker, who moved to California about five years ago, collected swords and was a fan of the “Highlander” film and television series in which the hero is a swordsman…

“He was being treated for schizophrenia…

Who to sue?  Albertson’s for exposing their employees to this nutcase?  The hospital for not treating his mental illness effectively?  The sword manufacturer?  The store that sold him the sword?  The movie industry for producing Highlander?  The cops for killing him?

So many lawsuits…. so little time….

Something’s Missing In Normandy

The Dissident Frogman just got back from a visit to the D-Day museums.  There was something missing in all of the memorials.  He has pictures.  Take a look.

This Day In History

The Night of Long Knives happened in 1934.  This night saw the consolidation of Hitler’s power.  He decapitated the unruly SA to satiate the army and gain their support.  This night also saw Himmler complete his rise as he removed his long-time rival, Ernst Rohm, and Himmler’s beloved SS became the dominant Nazi enforcement arm. 

Bowers vs. Hardwick, in which the SCotUS held Georgia’s sodomy law to be Constitutional, was decided in 1986.

Bankrupt California

It seems California has gotten itself into a little pickle.  The state has managed to compile a $38 billion budget deficit, and is now looking at problems on an unprecedented scale.  

The current political struggle is a unique one.  The Democrats control the Governer’s mansion and both houses of the legislature, but can’t get their new budget passed because it requires a two-third majority which they can’t muster.  At the same time, the Republicans are leading a campaign to get Gov. Davis recalled.

The Democrat budget proposes tax increases to close the gap, while the Republican budget proposes massive cuts in government spending.  Like any good Democrat, the California Democrats propose to tax their way out of the problem.  So what happens ten years from now when spending again outpaces income?  Hey, let’s tax them again!  That’s exactly what the Republicans are saying has to be stopped right here and now:

“He and his allies have gotten the last three budgets they wanted and we’re nearly bankrupt,” said James L. Brulte, the Republican leader in the state Senate, who has threatened to work against the reelection of any GOP colleague who sides with Davis in the budget battle. “Somebody has to stand up and say enough is enough. That’s what Republicans in California are doing.”

California is finding out why you can’t setup a welfare state, disguise it as a capitalist state, and remain viable for very long.  The folks paying for all the government programs will pack up and take their business elsewhere, leaving the government holding the bag.

Howard Dean In The Lead

Howard Dean is outstripping his fellow Democrats in fund-raising.

Dr. Dean’s aides said he would report raising at least $6.2 million in the three-month period that ends at midnight, on top of $2.6 million he raised over the first three months of the year. Dr. Dean announced the figure 36 hours before the filing period ends, timing the release for a slow-news Sunday afternoon.

 

When did we start calling him “Dr.”?

Oh, and the NY Times puts its best spin on Dean’s Meet The Press debacle:

Dr. Dean’s appearance on that show, in which he was unable to answer some questions and appeared to change his position on some issues, drew widespread criticism among Democrats. But his aides suggested that as far as Dr. Dean’s supporters were concerned, it might have proved an old show business nostrum: There is no such thing as bad publicity.

“My own theory of it is when Howard Dean says things like, `I don’t know the answer to that,’ the echo chamber in Washington says: `Oh my God; he doesn’t know the answer!’ ” Mr. Trippi said. “But the guy at home says, `Hey, someone who admits he doesn’t know the answer. We haven’t seen that before!’ “

VOTE FOR DEAN!!!

Natalie Maines and Pamela Anderson

This is too good to pass up:

An angry Vietnam vet has issued an apology to Pamela Anderson after mistaking her for outspoken Dixie Chicks star Natalie Maines - and hurling abuse at her on a flight to Los Angeles.

Proud Louis Zizza got his blondes mixed up on the flight from Fort Lauderdale and felt sure the ex-Baywatch star was the singer who had controversially dissed George W. Bush during a show in London earlier this year.

Zizza was so convinced he had the right girl he stormed into the first class lounge to give the actress a piece of his mind, and was almost arrested.

The 52-year-old former soldier says, “I mistook her for someone else and I’m deeply sorry for it.”

I’m sure Pamela is feeling great right now.

Intellectual Property

I’m with Jed on his post regarding file sharing.  Although I believe the music industy is in the right on principle, it will be impossible to effectively enforce without draconian laws that would make everyone uncomfortable. 

The music industry is in a real pickle right now.  I think that they made a fundamental error from which they are having a difficult time recovering.  Several years ago, as the internet spread and file sharing first began to rear its head, the music had a chance to jump on board.  The thing with .mp3 music is that it is below the quality of CD music.  I think that the music industry, fat and happy with its profits from inflated CD prices, thought that the general public wouldn’t settle for lower quality music - even for free.  The truth is that few people, except for the AV geeks, really give a crap if the music isn’t perfect.  As a general population, we are willing to sacrifice a little quality for a drastic reduction in price.  If we weren’t, Wal-Mart would never have succeeded (this is also the mistake the telecommunications industry is making with IP telephony, but that?s another post).

Furthermore, the music industry has been churning out mediocre-to-bad music for many years ? punctuated with the occasional flash of average.  What this means is that for the vast majority of the CDs that come out, there may only be one or two songs that are worth owning.  $13 - $17 for a song or two is a steep price.  So the market responded with the file sharing networks.  The exception to this is country music.  Country has been churning out some good music lately with CDs packed full of good music.  Country music also hasn?t been having near the problems with file sharing as Pop and Rock have.  Country?s sales are up. 

So what is the music industry to do?  They can try to sue their way out of it, but that?s an expensive route that will only further alienate their audience.  They have started with a few good ideas.  For instance, adding videos, lyrics, screensavers, interviews, and other multimedia to the CDs for no additional cost makes them more appealing.  They could also start lowering the CD prices, but with lagging sales, they seem to be reluctant to drop profits. 

The main thing they need to do is embrace the internet and find a way to make it profitable for them.  I agree with Jed in that offering individual songs for download at a reasonable price would help.  The problem is that they are too late.  Since they didn?t do this when the technology was emerging, they opened the door for the file sharing networks to develop a market.  Now, instead of the music industry introducing their audience to new technology and leading the way in technology development and innovation, they are trying to take competitor?s customers.  But I think there is still hope.  If the music industry would offer a quality selection for $0.39 per download (or some such price), then I think that many would take them up on it.  Especially when coupled with the threat of prosecution, $0.39 is a reasonable price.  For some reason, the music industry still doesn?t seem to want to try something like this.  The only reason I can think of is that they don?t want to legitimize the concept. 

Beyond that, the music industry could go a long way toward recovering if it would make better music.  Not crap that?s created by a producer for a specific target audience, but actual music created by an actual musician with some soul and depth.  Another blogger also noted (I wish I could remember who and I?d link UPDATE: I remembered who it was.  It was a guy from work.  Such is the blending of the real and virtual world.) that the music today is so overwrought in the studio that people can?t play it anymore.  Budding musicians can?t sit around a garage and play Oops, I Did It Again.  That?s why every future guitarist?s first song is still Stairway To Heaven.  Until the music gets better, file swapping will still be an issue, because even if they cut the price of CDs in half, $6 is a lot of cash for one or two songs.

Multistate Lottery

Texas is considering looking at the possibility of joining a multistate lottery.  I’m all for this.  I look at it like this.

I pay taxes.
My tax money goes to the “less fortunate.”
The “less fortunate” blow half their welfare on lottery tickets.
I win and get my tax money back.

Now all I have to do is pick the right numbers.  Piece o’ cake.

As Neal Boortz once said, the lottery is the best tax on the “poor” ever devised.  Since they’re not paying any income tax, it’s the least they can do.

File Sharing

The RIAA is about to begin filing lawsuits against individual downloaders of copyrighted music.  I’m all for a copyright holder’s right to legally enforce the copyright, but I get the feeling the RIAA is going about this in the wrong way.  The potential pool of offenders is far too large for effective deterrence by selective targeting of habitual downloaders.  Plus, I would venture to guess that the majority of offenders are young kids who are not likely to be deterred, considering the odds of actually being sued v. the opportunity to save $20.

The RIAA is in a difficult spot here, in that it basically has a choise of two bad courses of action:

1.  Sue the downloaders, which is not practical in a fiscal or judicial sense
2.  Develop a more secure method of encoding

 

The second option would be the ideal choice, but the computer geeks of the world have an uncanny ability to crack any system of encoding within weeks of its release.

Perhaps a better solution would be to completely reexamine the way the music industry does business.  If the RIAA could get the price of a CD down and/or find a way to offer individual songs for download at a reasonable price (much like Apple is trying), perhaps the RIAA could begin to lessen the damage done both to its finances and its reputation.