“Attorney” General Bill Lockyer (who, contrary to his title, has never worked a day in his life as an attorney, except the day that he committed a serious ethical breach by revealing confidential statements by then-Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger), is threatening to bring a frivolous antitrust action against the grocery store chains. The gravamen of Lockyer’s complaint is - get this - that the three chains’ concerted response to the United Food and Commercial Workers’ concerted attack on them “hurts consumers by discouraging competitive pricing.”

Silly me. For all this time, I had thought the illiterate boobs stalking my local grocery store were striking for better health care benefits for themselves. Little did I know that their real motive was to promote competitive pricing, which would make their current health care package unaffordable. They’re actually striking so that they can get paid less, just so I, as a consumer, can pay less for my groceries. How touching.

Meanwhile, at the local Albertson’s today here in Rancho Santa Margarita, a band of these misunderstood consumer rights activists proudly displayed the following slogan:

10/11/03

Never forgive

Never forget

Michael Williams encountered a substantially identical slogan at a store in Hawthorne. Given the geographic distance between RSM and Hawthorne, I think we can safely assume that this reckless slogan was the product of a deliberate strategy by the UFCW, not the result of a few overzealous grocery store “workers” going out on a limb. Think about that for a minute: one of the largest unions in the country actually mulled this idea over, debated it, and ultimately concluded that it was a good idea.

So, they want us to “never forget” the day that they chose to go on a pointless strike to demand that they continue to be grossly overpaid until their employers went bankrupt. Very well, we won’t forget. From now on, every time that I remember the unspeakable terrors of 9-11-01, I will also remember that on 1-31-04, you schlocks had the gall to peg your own petty little labor dispute on it. If Albertsons, Vons and Ralphs have the good sense to fire every one of you, I’ll also make a point to remember how much I’m saving on groceries now that you overplayed your hand, got canned, and left a competitive, nonunion workforce in your place. If they don’t, I’ll remember that, too, and I’ll always remember to shop at nonunion Wal-Mart or Stater Bros. instead, whenever possible.

UPDATE: The San Bernardino County Sun spotted the same phrase being on signs carried by grocery store stalkers in Garden Grove, as well.

After taking half the Blogosphere for an emotional roller coaster ride, Kate has switched gears and decided not to go the way of Rachel Lucas after all. Hallelujah! We have Verve Hosting to thank, at least in part, for this narrowly-averted blogicide.

Speaking from personal experience, I can say that Verve is a fine company. Their service is great, and they don’t cave in when asshats threaten them. The only reason I don’t use them anymore is that ICDSoft offered a better deal on the specific package that I needed. I have nothing but good things to say about my former host, nor the one that preceded it. As to the host that preceded that one, well….

So I’m happy to say that while Kate’s blog has never lacked verve, it now has Verve

For a minute, this had me cursing out loud. Then, just as I was about to go on a rampage I read the update. Seems maybe the Venomous One isn’t closing up shop after all, if she can find a better host. I’m sure sure she will. Hope springs eternal.

The Council has spoken. Congratulations to Alpha Patriot for the winning Council entry, “The Heart of Change,” and to Dean Esmay for the winning non-Council entry, “Saddam Lied, People Died.”

Jihad update: as you know, 1and1’s free deal is over. Last week I said their $5.00 individual account is a good deal. It’s actually more of a so-so deal, particularly if you want to use it to set up a Movable Type based blog. One commenter has stated that the $5.00 deal does not support the scripts needed to run MT. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I do know that the $5.00 version does not include a MySQL database, which is a big disadvantage. The $10.00 package does, but unless you’re Andrew Sullivan or the Puppy Blender, $10.00/month is way too much to pay for blog hosting. I recommend ICDSoft, Verve or Hosting Matters instead, in that order.

As I’ve recently blogged before, talk of a “jobless” recovery is off the mark, as new jobs have been created. The real beef is that not as many jobs have been created as some might have hoped, or not as quickly. This was true of the 1991 recession, which is part of the reason that then-presidential candidate Clinton was able to hoodwink so many voters into thinking the recession continued all the way up to election day of 1992. And it’s happening now. Still, netting fewer jobs than hoped, or more slowly, does not make the recovery “jobless” any more than living in an apartment you think is too small makes you “homeless.” Words mean things. Adding a second layer of irony, last month’s disappointing figures suggest that the “jobless recovery” not only isn’t jobless, but may not be a recovery, either.

Keeping these caveats in mind, take a look at Tuesday’s WaPo editorial, which does a pretty good job of putting “jobless” recoveries into perspective. In a nutshell, fewer new jobs are created during today’s “jobless” recoveries because fewer are lost in the first place during our recessions, and because certain types of jobs move overseas, which frees up American resources to do something else, but also requires large numbers of people to make career changes, a process that is not instantaneous. Bottom line: kwitcherbellyachin.

Link via Patrick Prescott.

Ryan at Tasty Manatees has the scoop on the individuals, organizations and countries who were all all too eager to trade a great deal of Iraqi blood for a whole lot of Iraqi oil. Read the whole thing.

None of this, of course, will stop the hard-core anti-liberationists from falsely accusing the pro- war side of being in it for the oil. Which begs the question: if this war was really about oil, why didn’t we get at least as much oil in exchange for fighting (and winning) it as Saddam’s lackeys appear to have gotten for trying (and failing) to stop it? The mind boggles.

My turn (via BoiFromTroy).

(more…)

I hereby nominate Donald Johnson of West Palm Beach, FL, for the next Stella Award, in recognition of his innovative suit against the Shoney’s restaurant chain. In the suit, which Judge Amon Krack refused to dismiss on demurrer, Mr. Johnson alleged that Shoney’s had negligently caused him psychological sleep disorders by inadvertently serving him Clam chowder (link broken) instead of the potato(e) soup he had ordered. Apparently, Mr. Johnson is allergic to Clams, (link fraudulent and misleading, but calcluated to rescue your soul from eternal hell) but was too stupid to tell them apart from potatoes. As a result, instead of sending it back, he ate the whole bowl of Clam chowder before suffering an allergic reaction that landed him in the ER.

The jury was in a rather punchy mood, and felt like poking a little fun and the uncommonly silly legal doctrine of comparative negligence. As a result, it ruled that the soup caused Mr. Johnson’s allergic reaction, but that Johnson himself was 90% to blame for eating the soup. Conversely, it held that Shoney’s was “only” 10% responsible for its failure to anticipate Johnson’s allergy, and awarded him 10% of his medical bills, for a grand total of $407. The jury rejected the central argument of Mr. Johnson’s case, which was that it was the soup that caused Johnson - a convicted pedophile and a registered sex offender - to go crazy.

Spoons believes that the best long-term strategy for the conservative wing of the GOP is to throw Bush to the wolves in November and hope to do better in ‘08. My view is that if Bush loses this year for any reason, his loss will be widely interpreted as a broad repudiation of conservatism in general, not as a narrow repudiation of the “compassionate” semi-conservatism espoused by this administration. Should we do better in ‘08? I think so. Can we do better in ‘08? Depending on demographic shifts and unpredictable world events, maybe, and maybe not. Either way, we have a much better shot at improving our lot in ‘08 if we have a true conservative riding the coattails of an outgoing President, rather than challenging a well-entrenched incumbent.

Aside from being a bad political strategy for the G.O.P. and the conservative cause, I also think taking a dive this fall would be bad for the country as a whole. Four years of President Lieberman I could live with, but he’s not getting the nomination. Among the more realistic options, we have John Kerry, who voted in 1991 to let Saddam Hussein’s Iraq hold onto Kuwait, at a time when his WMD program was very extensive and nukes were just around the corner. Then we have Wesley Clark, who is so damned nuts he shouldn’t be trusted with his finger on the button for four minutes, let alone four years. And then there’s Howard Dean, who is both. Sorry, but that’s a price the American in me is unwilling to pay, no matter what political or strategic advantage the Republican in me may gain from it as a result.

Anyway, as you can see, I’m thoroughly unconvinced by Spoons’s proposed suicide solution. Nevertheless, I would encourage you to read his piece and the comments that follow. As always, his analysis is very thoughtful, and he does raise a number of very good points about the Bush Administration. It’s just the conclusion that is wrong.