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Aug
29
[Update: Cleveland tops in poverty] Confidence in jobs, income, overall conditions plummets
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I’ve not yet found a break-out for Ohio’s region (“East North Central” region, with IN, IL, MI and WI), but here’s the overall take:
“Consumer confidence lost significant ground in August and is now at its lowest level this year,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “Less favorable business conditions coupled with a less favorable job scenario have resulted in the largest one month decline in confidence since Hurricane Katrina last year. Looking ahead, the glass remains half empty as consumers are growing increasingly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook.”
Consumers’ overall assessment of current conditions was significantly less favorable in August. Those claiming conditions are “good” decreased to 26.1 percent from 27.3 percent. Those claiming conditions are “bad” increased to 16.7 percent from 15.0 percent. Labor market conditions were also less favorable. Consumers saying jobs are “plentiful” decreased to 24.4 percent from 28.6 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” increased to 21.1 percent from 19.6 in July.
Consumers’ outlook for the next six months turned more negative in August. Those anticipating business conditions to worsen increased to 12.9 percent from 10.9 percent. Those expecting business conditions to improve edged down to 15.9 percent from 16.1 percent.
The outlook for the labor market was also less favorable. Those expecting more jobs to become available in the coming months decreased to 14.0 percent from 14.3 percent in July. Those expecting fewer jobs increased to 18.3 percent from 16.5 percent. The proportion of consumers anticipating their incomes to increase in the months ahead declined to 17.7 percent from 18.3 percent.
Read the report summary here.
Ohio gubernatorial candidates, what say you?
UPDATE: Cleveland #1 in poverty. Thirty-two percent of Clevelanders live in poverty and that doesn’t cover those nearly in poverty. Cincy #8.
The link between education and poverty, employment and socioeconomic mobility.
Mrs. Blackwell, care to comment? Eugene Sanders gets a break since he just started but if he hasn’t read that series of reports, he should too.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:45 am August 29th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Aug
29
That’s what NPR reported this morning. You can listen here.
Will they be re-broadcasting that story about Ohio come November 8, and just substitute “Kansas City’ with “Cleveland”?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:29 am August 29th, 2006 in Politics | 3 Comments
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Aug
28
That’s what NPR reported this morning. You can listen here.
Will they be re-broadcasting that story about Ohio come November 8, and just substitute “Kansas City’ with “Cleveland”?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:29 pm August 28th, 2006 in Politics | 3 Comments
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Aug
28
Photo ID requirement prevents 200K from voting in Missouri
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That’s what NPR reported this morning. You can listen here.
Will they be re-broadcasting that story about Ohio come November 8, and just substitute “Kansas City’ with “Cleveland”?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:29 pm August 28th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Aug
28
What is reality to Americans today? And did we ever have a grasp of it?
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
Those are the questions Vanity Fair wants people to answer for their annual essay contest. Many bloggers and commenters on blogs demonstrate a keen sense of how Americans view reality and whether, and how many, have a grasp of it.
My sense? Reality to Americans is as multi-faceted as the number of Americans itself. Many Americans may share elements of the same reality but there are multitudes of realities that obtain in this country, and there always has been. The only ones who don’t have a grasp of reality are the ones who refuse to accept the reality lived by others. To wit, Ken Blackwell. He is a perfect example of someone who does not grasp reality because he refuses to accept that so many of us grasp a reality that is different from his – and that, the fact that our reality is different from his, is what keeps him from being able to grasp reality itself.
These are tough questions, with no easy answer. But I would sure love to be one of the judges reading the submissions.
The specs, but do read the instructions:
1500 word maximum
Submit so that entry is RECEIVED by VF by midnight on 9/30/06
Original, never before published work by you
No fee
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:33 am August 28th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Aug
27
CSM gets it wrong on Blackwell
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
This is all the Christian Science Monitor had to say about Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate and current Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, in its article about African-Americans reaching for the golden rings of political office:
…the 2006 midterms are showing the telltale signs of a pro-Democratic “wave” election, with the Republican-controlled White House and Congress suffering from high negatives. That could help sink the black Republicans running for statewide office. In Pennsylvania, the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, retired Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann, already faced the near-impossible task of unseating the incumbent Democrat, Ed Rendell.
But in Ohio and Maryland, a more favorable climate toward Republicans could have been a boon to Ken Blackwell, nominee for governor in the Buckeye State, and Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, the only viable Republican in the Maryland Senate race. Both of those men are considered underdogs in their general election races.
Mr. Blackwell, in particular, suffers from GOP scandals in his state. “State party scandals – that’s the biggest enemy of Ken Blackwell,” says Raynard Jackson, a black Republican activist.
Generally, I like the CSM, quite a bit. It’s got a different set of stories usually and several sections about in the trenches life not often covered by other papers.
But in this article, the reporter totally slides by relying on the general Ohio is plagued by scandal line. I don’t know who checked the piece but it is not a thorough or accurate portrayal, based on the lone activist statement.
It would take very little investigation to learn that Blackwell suffers not so much from scandals (as his attempts to distance himself from every well-known elected Ohio GOPper possibly indicates), but from himself. Blackwell suffers from too much Blackwell, pure and simple.
Scandals stink and sink candidates. But even those can be ignored if the candidate isn’t tainted, or otherwise shows him or herself to be demonstratively above the underlying lack of integrity that being involved in scandals or with people involved in scandals that plagues GOP officials in Ohio.
Blackwell has failed to convince his party members, independents and, according to polls, a significant number of African-Americans that he, himself, his own person, is different enough from the scandal-riddled GOPpers – no matter what ethnicity he possesses. In this sense, yes, scandal has affected him.
But because Blackwell suffers from being too extreme, too reclusive and too full of hubris, none of what would have worked for him as far as ethnicity, in the way the CSM article seems to imply, can possibly work for him.
Because in the end, people are still voting for the person. And in Blackwell’s case, Ohio voters aren’t voting for the person who is Blackwell.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:41 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | 4 Comments
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Aug
27
What is reality to Americans today? And did we ever have a grasp of it?
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
Those are the questions Vanity Fair wants people to answer for their annual essay contest. Many bloggers and commenters on blogs demonstrate a keen sense of how Americans view reality and whether, and how many, have a grasp of it.
My sense? Reality to Americans is as multi-faceted as the number of Americans itself. Many Americans may share elements of the same reality but there are multitudes of realities that obtain in this country, and there always has been. The only ones who don’t have a grasp of reality are the ones who refuse to accept the reality lived by others. To wit, Ken Blackwell. He is a perfect example of someone who does not grasp reality because he refuses to accept that so many of us grasp a reality that is different from his – and that, the fact that our reality is different from his, is what keeps him from being able to grasp reality itself.
These are tough questions, with no easy answer. But I would sure love to be one of the judges reading the submissions.
The specs, but do read the instructions:
1500 word maximum
Submit so that entry is RECEIVED by VF by midnight on 9/30/06
Original, never before published work by you
No fee
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:33 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Aug
27
Defining standards for bloggers
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From the Society for Professional Journalists‘ The Working Press – in operation only during the SPJ annual convention which wraps today (Wendy Hoke in extreme attendance there, me sadly not), comes this account of a session on blogger standards:
The controversy with Web loggers lies with accountability, accurate reporting and fair access to information. Some in the mainstream media question the truthfulness of blogging reports, while the bloggers themselves maintain they are an unheard, ubiquitous voice that filters missed opportunities by bigger media outlets.
“There are forces out there who want to mute the bloggers, but we want the right to speak our piece without fear,” Cox [ Robert Cox, founder and president of the Media Bloggers Association] said. “Just like the newspaper industry has to contend with the Globe or the Star, the bloggers face the same thing.”
…
Cox, who has been blogging for six years, found himself involved in a lawsuit with the New York Times in 2003. Through his blog, the “National Debate,” he criticized a Times columnist who Cox says manufactured a quote pulled from a Bush speech.
Cox then blogged his entire legal experience — including e-mail correspondence and memos exchanged between Cox and the Times — and gained national attention after more influential blogs circulated his story.
Eventually, the Times met with Cox, dropped the lawsuit and complied with demands from Cox that forever changed the way they handle corrections and clarifications.
Cox says he met with Times editors after they became aware of the negative attention the newspaper was getting in the blog world and the mainstream media. The Times agreed to improve the visibility of corrections by publishing them at the bottom of opinion columns.
…
The MBA, located at mediabloggers.org, is a 1,000-member group that Cox says will grow 10-fold by the end of 2007. The membership is a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting MBA members and their blogs, educating bloggers and promoting the growth of citizen’s media.
To become a member of the MBA, a blogger must, among other things, “have a demonstrated history of a serious commitment to blogging evidenced by blogging for more than several months, posting regularly and frequently, and writing posts of some reasonable level of quality.”
Cox’s hope is that journalists and the mainstream media will give bloggers a chance to grow, develop and weed out the bad.
“Blogs that abuse the trust of the readers will be seen as unreliable,” Cox said.
And, in case you’re a blogger with a dubious opinion about SPJ and a group of people who might belong to a group called the Society for Professional Journalists, remember that SPJ continues to support blogger Josh Wolf who continues to sit in jail because he’s refusing turn over tape from a demonstration he covered. You can follow how he’s doing at his blog, The Revolution Will Be Televised.
Wendy offers this update from Rick Knee (a San Fran-based journalist) on his situation on the SPJ freelancer’s blog, which I’m re-posting here as an FYI to those unfamiliar or in need of remembering what this one person is doing on behalf of every citizen journalist:
Josh Wolf, a freelance blogger and videographer, is in the federal jail in
Dublin, Calif., because he insists on upholding the First
Amendment. He was taken into custody Aug. 1 for refusing to let a federal
grand jury have unedited footage that he shot during an
anti-G-8 demonstration in San Francisco on July 8, 2005.
An appeal before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending.
Meantime, Josh’s legal expenses continue to pile up, and he
needs help paying rent in order to keep his apartment.
If you happen to be in the Bay Area this Saturday, you might want to come
to a benefit event for Josh, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Dance Mission, 3316 24th St., San
Francisco. Otherwise, you can donate in either of two ways:
– Through a PayPal account accessible via
here.
– By sending a check to his mother, made out to:
Elizabeth Wolf-Spada
PO Box 2235,
Wrightwood, CA 92397
Josh reports through his web site that he’s in good health and spirits, and resolute on keeping his unedited video footage out of the grand jury’s hands.
He’ll welcome your letters. Send them to
Federal Correctional Institution
Joshua Wolf 98005-111
5701 8th St. Camp-Parks, Unit J2
Dublin, CA 94568
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:18 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Aug
27
CSM gets it wrong on Blackwell
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
This is all the Christian Science Monitor had to say about Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate and current Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, in its article about African-Americans reaching for the golden rings of political office:
…the 2006 midterms are showing the telltale signs of a pro-Democratic “wave” election, with the Republican-controlled White House and Congress suffering from high negatives. That could help sink the black Republicans running for statewide office. In Pennsylvania, the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, retired Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann, already faced the near-impossible task of unseating the incumbent Democrat, Ed Rendell.
But in Ohio and Maryland, a more favorable climate toward Republicans could have been a boon to Ken Blackwell, nominee for governor in the Buckeye State, and Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, the only viable Republican in the Maryland Senate race. Both of those men are considered underdogs in their general election races.
Mr. Blackwell, in particular, suffers from GOP scandals in his state. “State party scandals – that’s the biggest enemy of Ken Blackwell,” says Raynard Jackson, a black Republican activist.
Generally, I like the CSM, quite a bit. It’s got a different set of stories usually and several sections about in the trenches life not often covered by other papers.
But in this article, the reporter totally slides by relying on the general Ohio is plagued by scandal line. I don’t know who checked the piece but it is not a thorough or accurate portrayal, based on the lone activist statement.
It would take very little investigation to learn that Blackwell suffers not so much from scandals (as his attempts to distance himself from every well-known elected Ohio GOPper possibly indicates), but from himself. Blackwell suffers from too much Blackwell, pure and simple.
Scandals stink and sink candidates. But even those can be ignored if the candidate isn’t tainted, or otherwise shows him or herself to be demonstratively above the underlying lack of integrity that being involved in scandals or with people involved in scandals that plagues GOP officials in Ohio.
Blackwell has failed to convince his party members, independents and, according to polls, a significant number of African-Americans that he, himself, his own person, is different enough from the scandal-riddled GOPpers – no matter what ethnicity he possesses. In this sense, yes, scandal has affected him.
But because Blackwell suffers from being too extreme, too reclusive and too full of hubris, none of what would have worked for him as far as ethnicity, in the way the CSM article seems to imply, can possibly work for him.
Because in the end, people are still voting for the person. And in Blackwell’s case, Ohio voters aren’t voting for the person who is Blackwell.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:41 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | 4 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
27
What is reality to Americans today? And did we ever have a grasp of it?
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Those are the questions Vanity Fair wants people to answer for their annual essay contest. Many bloggers and commenters on blogs demonstrate a keen sense of how Americans view reality and whether, and how many, have a grasp of it.
My sense? Reality to Americans is as multi-faceted as the number of Americans itself. Many Americans may share elements of the same reality but there are multitudes of realities that obtain in this country, and there always has been. The only ones who don’t have a grasp of reality are the ones who refuse to accept the reality lived by others. To wit, Ken Blackwell. He is a perfect example of someone who does not grasp reality because he refuses to accept that so many of us grasp a reality that is different from his – and that, the fact that our reality is different from his, is what keeps him from being able to grasp reality itself.
These are tough questions, with no easy answer. But I would sure love to be one of the judges reading the submissions.
The specs, but do read the instructions:
1500 word maximum
Submit so that entry is RECEIVED by VF by midnight on 9/30/06
Original, never before published work by you
No fee
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:33 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
27
Defining standards for bloggers
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
From the Society for Professional Journalists‘ The Working Press – in operation only during the SPJ annual convention which wraps today (Wendy Hoke in extreme attendance there, me sadly not), comes this account of a session on blogger standards:
The controversy with Web loggers lies with accountability, accurate reporting and fair access to information. Some in the mainstream media question the truthfulness of blogging reports, while the bloggers themselves maintain they are an unheard, ubiquitous voice that filters missed opportunities by bigger media outlets.
“There are forces out there who want to mute the bloggers, but we want the right to speak our piece without fear,” Cox [ Robert Cox, founder and president of the Media Bloggers Association] said. “Just like the newspaper industry has to contend with the Globe or the Star, the bloggers face the same thing.”
…
Cox, who has been blogging for six years, found himself involved in a lawsuit with the New York Times in 2003. Through his blog, the “National Debate,” he criticized a Times columnist who Cox says manufactured a quote pulled from a Bush speech.
Cox then blogged his entire legal experience — including e-mail correspondence and memos exchanged between Cox and the Times — and gained national attention after more influential blogs circulated his story.
Eventually, the Times met with Cox, dropped the lawsuit and complied with demands from Cox that forever changed the way they handle corrections and clarifications.
Cox says he met with Times editors after they became aware of the negative attention the newspaper was getting in the blog world and the mainstream media. The Times agreed to improve the visibility of corrections by publishing them at the bottom of opinion columns.
…
The MBA, located at mediabloggers.org, is a 1,000-member group that Cox says will grow 10-fold by the end of 2007. The membership is a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting MBA members and their blogs, educating bloggers and promoting the growth of citizen’s media.
To become a member of the MBA, a blogger must, among other things, “have a demonstrated history of a serious commitment to blogging evidenced by blogging for more than several months, posting regularly and frequently, and writing posts of some reasonable level of quality.”
Cox’s hope is that journalists and the mainstream media will give bloggers a chance to grow, develop and weed out the bad.
“Blogs that abuse the trust of the readers will be seen as unreliable,” Cox said.
And, in case you’re a blogger with a dubious opinion about SPJ and a group of people who might belong to a group called the Society for Professional Journalists, remember that SPJ continues to support blogger Josh Wolf who continues to sit in jail because he’s refusing turn over tape from a demonstration he covered. You can follow how he’s doing at his blog, The Revolution Will Be Televised.
Wendy offers this update from Rick Knee (a San Fran-based journalist) on his situation on the SPJ freelancer’s blog, which I’m re-posting here as an FYI to those unfamiliar or in need of remembering what this one person is doing on behalf of every citizen journalist:
Josh Wolf, a freelance blogger and videographer, is in the federal jail in
Dublin, Calif., because he insists on upholding the First
Amendment. He was taken into custody Aug. 1 for refusing to let a federal
grand jury have unedited footage that he shot during an
anti-G-8 demonstration in San Francisco on July 8, 2005.
An appeal before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending.
Meantime, Josh’s legal expenses continue to pile up, and he
needs help paying rent in order to keep his apartment.
If you happen to be in the Bay Area this Saturday, you might want to come
to a benefit event for Josh, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Dance Mission, 3316 24th St., San
Francisco. Otherwise, you can donate in either of two ways:
– Through a PayPal account accessible via
here.
– By sending a check to his mother, made out to:
Elizabeth Wolf-Spada
PO Box 2235,
Wrightwood, CA 92397
Josh reports through his web site that he’s in good health and spirits, and resolute on keeping his unedited video footage out of the grand jury’s hands.
He’ll welcome your letters. Send them to
Federal Correctional Institution
Joshua Wolf 98005-111
5701 8th St. Camp-Parks, Unit J2
Dublin, CA 94568
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:18 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Aug
27
CSM gets it wrong on Blackwell
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
This is all the Christian Science Monitor had to say about Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate and current Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, in its article about African-Americans reaching for the golden rings of political office:
…the 2006 midterms are showing the telltale signs of a pro-Democratic “wave” election, with the Republican-controlled White House and Congress suffering from high negatives. That could help sink the black Republicans running for statewide office. In Pennsylvania, the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, retired Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann, already faced the near-impossible task of unseating the incumbent Democrat, Ed Rendell.
But in Ohio and Maryland, a more favorable climate toward Republicans could have been a boon to Ken Blackwell, nominee for governor in the Buckeye State, and Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, the only viable Republican in the Maryland Senate race. Both of those men are considered underdogs in their general election races.
Mr. Blackwell, in particular, suffers from GOP scandals in his state. “State party scandals – that’s the biggest enemy of Ken Blackwell,” says Raynard Jackson, a black Republican activist.
Generally, I like the CSM, quite a bit. It’s got a different set of stories usually and several sections about in the trenches life not often covered by other papers.
But in this article, the reporter totally slides by relying on the general Ohio is plagued by scandal line. I don’t know who checked the piece but it is not a thorough or accurate portrayal, based on the lone activist statement.
It would take very little investigation to learn that Blackwell suffers not so much from scandals (as his attempts to distance himself from every well-known elected Ohio GOPper possibly indicates), but from himself. Blackwell suffers from too much Blackwell, pure and simple.
Scandals stink and sink candidates. But even those can be ignored if the candidate isn’t tainted, or otherwise shows him or herself to be demonstratively above the underlying lack of integrity that being involved in scandals or with people involved in scandals that plagues GOP officials in Ohio.
Blackwell has failed to convince his party members, independents and, according to polls, a significant number of African-Americans that he, himself, his own person, is different enough from the scandal-riddled GOPpers – no matter what ethnicity he possesses. In this sense, yes, scandal has affected him.
But because Blackwell suffers from being too extreme, too reclusive and too full of hubris, none of what would have worked for him as far as ethnicity, in the way the CSM article seems to imply, can possibly work for him.
Because in the end, people are still voting for the person. And in Blackwell’s case, Ohio voters aren’t voting for the person who is Blackwell.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:41 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Aug
27
I don’t know a lot about the cycle of newspaper endorsements and how they’re supposed to be timed in relation to announcements of candidacy versus when the election is scheduled, but this glowing and long editorial in today’s Plain Dealer couldn’t be more, well, glowing and long and…early?
De minimus disclaimer: I am, without a doubt, certain that Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Joan Synenberg is more qualified than controversial but well-monikered Christine Agnello Russo to be a common pleas court judge. That is a sincere statement. My issue, raised in this post, concerns the provision of full disclosure regarding a candidate’s background, and the newspaper’s jumping on the one Republican (Judge Synenberg) upon whom people can hold up as a worthy GOP candidate this election season. It just seems…too early and opportunistic in a time when worthy GOP candidates for anything are in short supply.
My observations:
Synenberg was profiled in April 2006′s Cleveland Magazine: (article available online to subscribers only)
Five days ago, the PD published this story about Synenberg entering a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas court race, four days after Peggy Foley Jones withdrew (the announcement of which was published on 8/19, a week ago yesterday).
Two days ago, Meet the Bloggers had a session that, although scheduled with Foley Jones, was attended by Synenberg. I’m told that the podcast for that session might be up as early as tomorrow, but no promises.
From the April 2006′s Cleveland Magazine: (article available online to subscribers only)
As an attorney, she’s defended some of Cleveland’s most notorious watercooler criminals — from former Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne to lottery loser Elecia Battle. Then, Republican Joan Synenberg did what many thought was impossible: beat a slew of Democratic contenders to become a Cleveland judge. How? She’s got the intelligence of a top trial lawyer, the charisma of a Clinton — and a style all her own. She’s also got a future that has some people whispering the words statewide office.
Is it normal, common, good, acceptable, all of these or none of these, for the PD to be giving Synenberg so much ink so soon after her entrance, especially given this other exposure she’s had? Is it too big of me to think that the PD’s effort is an attempt to outdo MTB before MTB gets on the record with Synenberg’s own presentation of herself at their forum last week?
Perhaps the most interesting question is: did the Cuyahoga County Republican Party force out or arrange for the withdrawal of or encourage Foley Jones to take other good opportunities because they feared Russo’s name versus Jones’ not being a sitting judge, as Synenberg is, to be too much for Foley Jones to overcome, despite serious reservations by many in the community about Russo’s worthiness? I feel comfortable enough to email Rob Frost and ask, but I’m too cynical to actually do it – that is, I would want to trust his sincerity if he said no such thing was going on, but I don’t know if my cynicism would allow me to. (And, now that I’m thinking, his plate’s been full with the convention hubbub.)
And, as a corollary to that question, doesn’t it seem almost like an act of PR collusion when you look at these facts and turns of events and couple them with the PD endorsement editorial on a Sunday for this one common pleas court case?
I don’t like the appearance of these occurences so close to one another, regardless of who denies what and what conversations have or haven’t taken place. It just doesn’t look right or innocent, and I’m particularly interested in knowing more about Foley Jones’ withdrawal.
I’ll be listening for questioning along these lines (short of the PD endorsement since it wasn’t yet published when Synenberg’s MTB occurred) in the MTB session, but I suspect that although the MTB attendees are almost always hip to the tricks, I don’t know if they put any of this together as I have and without the PD editorial yet published, maybe it’s not fair to expect that they would.
Now, full disclosure on my part: I wrote a letter to the editor when Synenberg was endorsed last October for muny court judge because I felt the editorial failed to address the criminal defense side of Synenberg’s work and her defense of Frank Gruttadaria and others, because, even though I’m a lawyer who knows that everyone deserves a good defense lawyer, I’m also a voter who would have wanted to know that.
I’ve had more than my share of letters to the editor published, but that letter wasn’t one of them. So here is what I sent to the PD on October 12, 2005, the day that the PD’s endorsement of Synenberg for her muny court race appeared (a race that would occur in less than a month from the endorsement’s publication).
But when I googled Judge Synenberg, the only information I found (in addition to her website which provides scant information about her background, just a general “about” page, a list of endorsements and how to donate or volunteer for her), was in a story about how she represented former County Prosecutor Aaron Phillips, who was accused of taking bribes, cocaine use and fired by Bill Mason. That article (http://hometown.aol.com/WBFLegal/page2.html) included this additional information, “The Synenbergs recently brokered a plea deal for stock swindler Frank Gruttadaria.”
Don’t you think knowledge like that is as important if not more so than the touchy-feely information you say suggests that folks should ignore party lines and vote for a Republican in a nonpartisan role?
Sincerely,
Jill Miller Zimon, JD, MSSA
I see patterns, that’s all I’m saying. And voters deserve to know everything that the editors writing the editorials do when it comes to endorsements. Especially for judges who rarely get a close look.
And maybe more so for those who haven’t been in the race for even seven days yet.
PS This post is my 1000th.
UPDATE:
Listen to the Meet the Bloggers podcast here (recorded on Friday, 8/25). (I’ve heard the first of the four parts. Synenberg is very impressive, very.)
Read a report from Jeff Coryell (aka Yellow Dog Sammy) of Ohio2006 here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:50 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
27
Defining standards for bloggers
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
From the Society for Professional Journalists‘ The Working Press – in operation only during the SPJ annual convention which wraps today (Wendy Hoke in extreme attendance there, me sadly not), comes this account of a session on blogger standards:
The controversy with Web loggers lies with accountability, accurate reporting and fair access to information. Some in the mainstream media question the truthfulness of blogging reports, while the bloggers themselves maintain they are an unheard, ubiquitous voice that filters missed opportunities by bigger media outlets.
“There are forces out there who want to mute the bloggers, but we want the right to speak our piece without fear,” Cox [ Robert Cox, founder and president of the Media Bloggers Association] said. “Just like the newspaper industry has to contend with the Globe or the Star, the bloggers face the same thing.”
…
Cox, who has been blogging for six years, found himself involved in a lawsuit with the New York Times in 2003. Through his blog, the “National Debate,” he criticized a Times columnist who Cox says manufactured a quote pulled from a Bush speech.
Cox then blogged his entire legal experience — including e-mail correspondence and memos exchanged between Cox and the Times — and gained national attention after more influential blogs circulated his story.
Eventually, the Times met with Cox, dropped the lawsuit and complied with demands from Cox that forever changed the way they handle corrections and clarifications.
Cox says he met with Times editors after they became aware of the negative attention the newspaper was getting in the blog world and the mainstream media. The Times agreed to improve the visibility of corrections by publishing them at the bottom of opinion columns.
…
The MBA, located at mediabloggers.org, is a 1,000-member group that Cox says will grow 10-fold by the end of 2007. The membership is a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting MBA members and their blogs, educating bloggers and promoting the growth of citizen’s media.
To become a member of the MBA, a blogger must, among other things, “have a demonstrated history of a serious commitment to blogging evidenced by blogging for more than several months, posting regularly and frequently, and writing posts of some reasonable level of quality.”
Cox’s hope is that journalists and the mainstream media will give bloggers a chance to grow, develop and weed out the bad.
“Blogs that abuse the trust of the readers will be seen as unreliable,” Cox said.
And, in case you’re a blogger with a dubious opinion about SPJ and a group of people who might belong to a group called the Society for Professional Journalists, remember that SPJ continues to support blogger Josh Wolf who continues to sit in jail because he’s refusing turn over tape from a demonstration he covered. You can follow how he’s doing at his blog, The Revolution Will Be Televised.
Wendy offers this update from Rick Knee (a San Fran-based journalist) on his situation on the SPJ freelancer’s blog, which I’m re-posting here as an FYI to those unfamiliar or in need of remembering what this one person is doing on behalf of every citizen journalist:
Josh Wolf, a freelance blogger and videographer, is in the federal jail in
Dublin, Calif., because he insists on upholding the First
Amendment. He was taken into custody Aug. 1 for refusing to let a federal
grand jury have unedited footage that he shot during an
anti-G-8 demonstration in San Francisco on July 8, 2005.
An appeal before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is pending.
Meantime, Josh’s legal expenses continue to pile up, and he
needs help paying rent in order to keep his apartment.
If you happen to be in the Bay Area this Saturday, you might want to come
to a benefit event for Josh, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Dance Mission, 3316 24th St., San
Francisco. Otherwise, you can donate in either of two ways:
– Through a PayPal account accessible via
here.
– By sending a check to his mother, made out to:
Elizabeth Wolf-Spada
PO Box 2235,
Wrightwood, CA 92397
Josh reports through his web site that he’s in good health and spirits, and resolute on keeping his unedited video footage out of the grand jury’s hands.
He’ll welcome your letters. Send them to
Federal Correctional Institution
Joshua Wolf 98005-111
5701 8th St. Camp-Parks, Unit J2
Dublin, CA 94568
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:18 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
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Aug
27
Everything’s coming up baseball (and Jews)
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
Must be the stars. Or something.
A couple of days ago, new members at our synagogue, who are also new to Cleveland, invited my family to an Indians game. The father is a top guy at a big international company here and the company’s suite is rumored to be quite the nice place to be.
I haven’t been to a game in at least a year, maybe two. We don’t “do” sports so much here (another post) but I always want to give my kids a flavor of it all. I don’t always win that battle.
However, when it can be done in the lap of luxury, well, let’s just say it wasn’t hard to say yes.
We had a really lovely time AND the Indians won. It actually was a very good game, with good ole highs and lows (some incredibly messy ball-handling). And the dessert cart. If you haven’t had the treat of the Jacobs Field suites’ dessert cart, you need to find someone, anyone, with a suite and get yourself invited. (I ate very little in anticipation of the cart and then had a raspberry cheesecake confection with oreo crust.) My youngest was mesmerized by the activity and wouldn’t even eat because he was trying to consume all the knowledge of the game, uninterrupted. Until the dessert cart of course.
The point of this part of the story is that baseball has a very low frequency of discussion in our household. As in, almost never. And so an outing to Jacobs Field, with all of us, that is then a success? That’s a memorable thing. (So memorable in fact that when neighbors of ours came in just after us – we all even got to park in the Founders Club spots – I pulled out that disposable camera they say to keep in your purse in case of emergencies, like car accidents or something, and had them take a picture of me with the family overlooking the field – for posterity. Then I can say to my kids when they’re older and say, you never took us anywhere? Ha!)
So, now, I’ve been sitting in our sunroom since before 7am because my daughter woke me up so I could tape a television show she likes that, it turns out, isn’t even on anymore (grrrrrr we hate television) with the laptop on my lap, not yet getting hot enough to combust, because I’m too tired to move. I dragged myself to the computer and me and the computer to the couch to see if I could find the kids’ show anywhere and I couldn’t.
And I’ve been browsing around the Internet a bit.
Caught up on a some politics (George Allen is still a bigoted load of four letter words, Hillary Clinton’s giving people to Lamont, and Rick Santorum is now only in single digits behind his opponent – need to keep an eye on that one), saw that Parade magazine’s Sunday issue isn’t online yet (on the front page of the website but if you click on my link you’ll go right to it) with the small school reform stuff (they highlight Cleveland Heights-University Heights high school’s effort), saw that KnowledgeWorks hasn’t snuck in a sneak peek at Wendy and my publication yet (it’s being released on Tuesday – I can’t wait to see it) and learned that the Fox guys in Gaza were released.
But, what caught my eye? This article in the New York Times about baseball player Shawn Green.
People are just so funny. You. Me. All of us. Stories like the NYT’s about Green remind me how simple, how easy it can be to make people feel good.
Why can’t we all just work to make people feel good? To give them that hope? No one really thinks Green is the messiah or some amazing Jew or even some amazing baseball player. But he represents the belief that he could be or that such a person might exist or that we all strive to be such a person – and it doesn’t matter if you don’t get there (although of course getting there is nice too). Because along the way, you improve yourself and you make others feel good and able to see that they can do the same.
Why can’t everyone do that? Eh, forget everyone, I’d take just a few more people making the effort.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:07 pm August 27th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Aug
27
I don’t know a lot about the cycle of newspaper endorsements and how they’re supposed to be timed in relation to announcements of candidacy versus when the election is scheduled, but this glowing and long editorial in today’s Plain Dealer couldn’t be more, well, glowing and long and…early?
De minimus disclaimer: I am, without a doubt, certain that Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Joan Synenberg is more qualified than controversial but well-monikered Christine Agnello Russo to be a common pleas court judge. That is a sincere statement. My issue, raised in this post, concerns the provision of full disclosure regarding a candidate’s background, and the newspaper’s jumping on the one Republican (Judge Synenberg) upon whom people can hold up as a worthy GOP candidate this election season. It just seems…too early and opportunistic in a time when worthy GOP candidates for anything are in short supply.
My observations:
Synenberg was profiled in April 2006′s Cleveland Magazine: (article available online to subscribers only)
Five days ago, the PD published this story about Synenberg entering a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas court race, four days after Peggy Foley Jones withdrew (the announcement of which was published on 8/19, a week ago yesterday).
Two days ago, Meet the Bloggers had a session that, although scheduled with Foley Jones, was attended by Synenberg. I’m told that the podcast for that session might be up as early as tomorrow, but no promises.
From the April 2006′s Cleveland Magazine: (article available online to subscribers only)
As an attorney, she’s defended some of Cleveland’s most notorious watercooler criminals — from former Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne to lottery loser Elecia Battle. Then, Republican Joan Synenberg did what many thought was impossible: beat a slew of Democratic contenders to become a Cleveland judge. How? She’s got the intelligence of a top trial lawyer, the charisma of a Clinton — and a style all her own. She’s also got a future that has some people whispering the words statewide office.
Is it normal, common, good, acceptable, all of these or none of these, for the PD to be giving Synenberg so much ink so soon after her entrance, especially given this other exposure she’s had? Is it too big of me to think that the PD’s effort is an attempt to outdo MTB before MTB gets on the record with Synenberg’s own presentation of herself at their forum last week?
Perhaps the most interesting question is: did the Cuyahoga County Republican Party force out or arrange for the withdrawal of or encourage Foley Jones to take other good opportunities because they feared Russo’s name versus Jones’ not being a sitting judge, as Synenberg is, to be too much for Foley Jones to overcome, despite serious reservations by many in the community about Russo’s worthiness? I feel comfortable enough to email Rob Frost and ask, but I’m too cynical to actually do it – that is, I would want to trust his sincerity if he said no such thing was going on, but I don’t know if my cynicism would allow me to. (And, now that I’m thinking, his plate’s been full with the convention hubbub.)
And, as a corollary to that question, doesn’t it seem almost like an act of PR collusion when you look at these facts and turns of events and couple them with the PD endorsement editorial on a Sunday for this one common pleas court case?
I don’t like the appearance of these occurences so close to one another, regardless of who denies what and what conversations have or haven’t taken place. It just doesn’t look right or innocent, and I’m particularly interested in knowing more about Foley Jones’ withdrawal.
I’ll be listening for questioning along these lines (short of the PD endorsement since it wasn’t yet published when Synenberg’s MTB occurred) in the MTB session, but I suspect that although the MTB attendees are almost always hip to the tricks, I don’t know if they put any of this together as I have and without the PD editorial yet published, maybe it’s not fair to expect that they would.
Now, full disclosure on my part: I wrote a letter to the editor when Synenberg was endorsed last October for muny court judge because I felt the editorial failed to address the criminal defense side of Synenberg’s work and her defense of Frank Gruttadaria and others, because, even though I’m a lawyer who knows that everyone deserves a good defense lawyer, I’m also a voter who would have wanted to know that.
I’ve had more than my share of letters to the editor published, but that letter wasn’t one of them. So here is what I sent to the PD on October 12, 2005, the day that the PD’s endorsement of Synenberg for her muny court race appeared (a race that would occur in less than a month from the endorsement’s publication).
But when I googled Judge Synenberg, the only information I found (in addition to her website which provides scant information about her background, just a general “about” page, a list of endorsements and how to donate or volunteer for her), was in a story about how she represented former County Prosecutor Aaron Phillips, who was accused of taking bribes, cocaine use and fired by Bill Mason. That article (http://hometown.aol.com/WBFLegal/page2.html) included this additional information, “The Synenbergs recently brokered a plea deal for stock swindler Frank Gruttadaria.”
Don’t you think knowledge like that is as important if not more so than the touchy-feely information you say suggests that folks should ignore party lines and vote for a Republican in a nonpartisan role?
Sincerely,
Jill Miller Zimon, JD, MSSA
I see patterns, that’s all I’m saying. And voters deserve to know everything that the editors writing the editorials do when it comes to endorsements. Especially for judges who rarely get a close look.
And maybe more so for those who haven’t been in the race for even seven days yet.
PS This post is my 1000th.
UPDATE:
Listen to the Meet the Bloggers podcast here (recorded on Friday, 8/25). (I’ve heard the first of the four parts. Synenberg is very impressive, very.)
Read a report from Jeff Coryell (aka Yellow Dog Sammy) of Ohio2006 here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:50 am August 27th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
27
Everything’s coming up baseball (and Jews)
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
Must be the stars. Or something.
A couple of days ago, new members at our synagogue, who are also new to Cleveland, invited my family to an Indians game. The father is a top guy at a big international company here and the company’s suite is rumored to be quite the nice place to be.
I haven’t been to a game in at least a year, maybe two. We don’t “do” sports so much here (another post) but I always want to give my kids a flavor of it all. I don’t always win that battle.
However, when it can be done in the lap of luxury, well, let’s just say it wasn’t hard to say yes.
We had a really lovely time AND the Indians won. It actually was a very good game, with good ole highs and lows (some incredibly messy ball-handling). And the dessert cart. If you haven’t had the treat of the Jacobs Field suites’ dessert cart, you need to find someone, anyone, with a suite and get yourself invited. (I ate very little in anticipation of the cart and then had a raspberry cheesecake confection with oreo crust.) My youngest was mesmerized by the activity and wouldn’t even eat because he was trying to consume all the knowledge of the game, uninterrupted. Until the dessert cart of course.
The point of this part of the story is that baseball has a very low frequency of discussion in our household. As in, almost never. And so an outing to Jacobs Field, with all of us, that is then a success? That’s a memorable thing. (So memorable in fact that when neighbors of ours came in just after us – we all even got to park in the Founders Club spots – I pulled out that disposable camera they say to keep in your purse in case of emergencies, like car accidents or something, and had them take a picture of me with the family overlooking the field – for posterity. Then I can say to my kids when they’re older and say, you never took us anywhere? Ha!)
So, now, I’ve been sitting in our sunroom since before 7am because my daughter woke me up so I could tape a television show she likes that, it turns out, isn’t even on anymore (grrrrrr we hate television) with the laptop on my lap, not yet getting hot enough to combust, because I’m too tired to move. I dragged myself to the computer and me and the computer to the couch to see if I could find the kids’ show anywhere and I couldn’t.
And I’ve been browsing around the Internet a bit.
Caught up on a some politics (George Allen is still a bigoted load of four letter words, Hillary Clinton’s giving people to Lamont, and Rick Santorum is now only in single digits behind his opponent – need to keep an eye on that one), saw that Parade magazine’s Sunday issue isn’t online yet (on the front page of the website but if you click on my link you’ll go right to it) with the small school reform stuff (they highlight Cleveland Heights-University Heights high school’s effort), saw that KnowledgeWorks hasn’t snuck in a sneak peek at Wendy and my publication yet (it’s being released on Tuesday – I can’t wait to see it) and learned that the Fox guys in Gaza were released.
But, what caught my eye? This article in the New York Times about baseball player Shawn Green.
People are just so funny. You. Me. All of us. Stories like the NYT’s about Green remind me how simple, how easy it can be to make people feel good.
Why can’t we all just work to make people feel good? To give them that hope? No one really thinks Green is the messiah or some amazing Jew or even some amazing baseball player. But he represents the belief that he could be or that such a person might exist or that we all strive to be such a person – and it doesn’t matter if you don’t get there (although of course getting there is nice too). Because along the way, you improve yourself and you make others feel good and able to see that they can do the same.
Why can’t everyone do that? Eh, forget everyone, I’d take just a few more people making the effort.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:07 am August 27th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
27
[updated] Joan Synenberg, the Plain Dealer and Meet the Bloggers
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
I don’t know a lot about the cycle of newspaper endorsements and how they’re supposed to be timed in relation to announcements of candidacy versus when the election is scheduled, but this glowing and long editorial in today’s Plain Dealer couldn’t be more, well, glowing and long and…early?
De minimus disclaimer: I am, without a doubt, certain that Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Joan Synenberg is more qualified than controversial but well-monikered Christine Agnello Russo to be a common pleas court judge. That is a sincere statement. My issue, raised in this post, concerns the provision of full disclosure regarding a candidate’s background, and the newspaper’s jumping on the one Republican (Judge Synenberg) upon whom people can hold up as a worthy GOP candidate this election season. It just seems…too early and opportunistic in a time when worthy GOP candidates for anything are in short supply.
My observations:
Synenberg was profiled in April 2006′s Cleveland Magazine: (article available online to subscribers only)
Five days ago, the PD published this story about Synenberg entering a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas court race, four days after Peggy Foley Jones withdrew (the announcement of which was published on 8/19, a week ago yesterday).
Two days ago, Meet the Bloggers had a session that, although scheduled with Foley Jones, was attended by Synenberg. I’m told that the podcast for that session might be up as early as tomorrow, but no promises.
From the April 2006′s Cleveland Magazine: (article available online to subscribers only)
As an attorney, she’s defended some of Cleveland’s most notorious watercooler criminals — from former Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne to lottery loser Elecia Battle. Then, Republican Joan Synenberg did what many thought was impossible: beat a slew of Democratic contenders to become a Cleveland judge. How? She’s got the intelligence of a top trial lawyer, the charisma of a Clinton — and a style all her own. She’s also got a future that has some people whispering the words statewide office.
Is it normal, common, good, acceptable, all of these or none of these, for the PD to be giving Synenberg so much ink so soon after her entrance, especially given this other exposure she’s had? Is it too big of me to think that the PD’s effort is an attempt to outdo MTB before MTB gets on the record with Synenberg’s own presentation of herself at their forum last week?
Perhaps the most interesting question is: did the Cuyahoga County Republican Party force out or arrange for the withdrawal of or encourage Foley Jones to take other good opportunities because they feared Russo’s name versus Jones’ not being a sitting judge, as Synenberg is, to be too much for Foley Jones to overcome, despite serious reservations by many in the community about Russo’s worthiness? I feel comfortable enough to email Rob Frost and ask, but I’m too cynical to actually do it – that is, I would want to trust his sincerity if he said no such thing was going on, but I don’t know if my cynicism would allow me to. (And, now that I’m thinking, his plate’s been full with the convention hubbub.)
And, as a corollary to that question, doesn’t it seem almost like an act of PR collusion when you look at these facts and turns of events and couple them with the PD endorsement editorial on a Sunday for this one common pleas court case?
I don’t like the appearance of these occurences so close to one another, regardless of who denies what and what conversations have or haven’t taken place. It just doesn’t look right or innocent, and I’m particularly interested in knowing more about Foley Jones’ withdrawal.
I’ll be listening for questioning along these lines (short of the PD endorsement since it wasn’t yet published when Synenberg’s MTB occurred) in the MTB session, but I suspect that although the MTB attendees are almost always hip to the tricks, I don’t know if they put any of this together as I have and without the PD editorial yet published, maybe it’s not fair to expect that they would.
Now, full disclosure on my part: I wrote a letter to the editor when Synenberg was endorsed last October for muny court judge because I felt the editorial failed to address the criminal defense side of Synenberg’s work and her defense of Frank Gruttadaria and others, because, even though I’m a lawyer who knows that everyone deserves a good defense lawyer, I’m also a voter who would have wanted to know that.
I’ve had more than my share of letters to the editor published, but that letter wasn’t one of them. So here is what I sent to the PD on October 12, 2005, the day that the PD’s endorsement of Synenberg for her muny court race appeared (a race that would occur in less than a month from the endorsement’s publication).
But when I googled Judge Synenberg, the only information I found (in addition to her website which provides scant information about her background, just a general “about” page, a list of endorsements and how to donate or volunteer for her), was in a story about how she represented former County Prosecutor Aaron Phillips, who was accused of taking bribes, cocaine use and fired by Bill Mason. That article (http://hometown.aol.com/WBFLegal/page2.html) included this additional information, “The Synenbergs recently brokered a plea deal for stock swindler Frank Gruttadaria.”
Don’t you think knowledge like that is as important if not more so than the touchy-feely information you say suggests that folks should ignore party lines and vote for a Republican in a nonpartisan role?
Sincerely,
Jill Miller Zimon, JD, MSSA
I see patterns, that’s all I’m saying. And voters deserve to know everything that the editors writing the editorials do when it comes to endorsements. Especially for judges who rarely get a close look.
And maybe more so for those who haven’t been in the race for even seven days yet.
PS This post is my 1000th.
UPDATE:
Listen to the Meet the Bloggers podcast here (recorded on Friday, 8/25). (I’ve heard the first of the four parts. Synenberg is very impressive, very.)
Read a report from Jeff Coryell (aka Yellow Dog Sammy) of Ohio2006 here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:50 am August 27th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
27
Everything’s coming up baseball (and Jews)
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Must be the stars. Or something.
A couple of days ago, new members at our synagogue, who are also new to Cleveland, invited my family to an Indians game. The father is a top guy at a big international company here and the company’s suite is rumored to be quite the nice place to be.
I haven’t been to a game in at least a year, maybe two. We don’t “do” sports so much here (another post) but I always want to give my kids a flavor of it all. I don’t always win that battle.
However, when it can be done in the lap of luxury, well, let’s just say it wasn’t hard to say yes.
We had a really lovely time AND the Indians won. It actually was a very good game, with good ole highs and lows (some incredibly messy ball-handling). And the dessert cart. If you haven’t had the treat of the Jacobs Field suites’ dessert cart, you need to find someone, anyone, with a suite and get yourself invited. (I ate very little in anticipation of the cart and then had a raspberry cheesecake confection with oreo crust.) My youngest was mesmerized by the activity and wouldn’t even eat because he was trying to consume all the knowledge of the game, uninterrupted. Until the dessert cart of course.
The point of this part of the story is that baseball has a very low frequency of discussion in our household. As in, almost never. And so an outing to Jacobs Field, with all of us, that is then a success? That’s a memorable thing. (So memorable in fact that when neighbors of ours came in just after us – we all even got to park in the Founders Club spots – I pulled out that disposable camera they say to keep in your purse in case of emergencies, like car accidents or something, and had them take a picture of me with the family overlooking the field – for posterity. Then I can say to my kids when they’re older and say, you never took us anywhere? Ha!)
So, now, I’ve been sitting in our sunroom since before 7am because my daughter woke me up so I could tape a television show she likes that, it turns out, isn’t even on anymore (grrrrrr we hate television) with the laptop on my lap, not yet getting hot enough to combust, because I’m too tired to move. I dragged myself to the computer and me and the computer to the couch to see if I could find the kids’ show anywhere and I couldn’t.
And I’ve been browsing around the Internet a bit.
Caught up on a some politics (George Allen is still a bigoted load of four letter words, Hillary Clinton’s giving people to Lamont, and Rick Santorum is now only in single digits behind his opponent – need to keep an eye on that one), saw that Parade magazine’s Sunday issue isn’t online yet (on the front page of the website but if you click on my link you’ll go right to it) with the small school reform stuff (they highlight Cleveland Heights-University Heights high school’s effort), saw that KnowledgeWorks hasn’t snuck in a sneak peek at Wendy and my publication yet (it’s being released on Tuesday – I can’t wait to see it) and learned that the Fox guys in Gaza were released.
But, what caught my eye? This article in the New York Times about baseball player Shawn Green.
People are just so funny. You. Me. All of us. Stories like the NYT’s about Green remind me how simple, how easy it can be to make people feel good.
Why can’t we all just work to make people feel good? To give them that hope? No one really thinks Green is the messiah or some amazing Jew or even some amazing baseball player. But he represents the belief that he could be or that such a person might exist or that we all strive to be such a person – and it doesn’t matter if you don’t get there (although of course getting there is nice too). Because along the way, you improve yourself and you make others feel good and able to see that they can do the same.
Why can’t everyone do that? Eh, forget everyone, I’d take just a few more people making the effort.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:07 am August 27th, 2006 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Aug
26
WLST outpostals the postal workers
Filed Under Politics | 9 Comments
Well, you know, you just shouldn’t mess with a woman on the verge. What more can I say?
So, I’m in the Landerbrook post office, it’s Saturday, 3:30pm and I’m stamping like a mad woman because I should’ve gotten out the stuff I’m mailing two weeks ago, but everything needed to be perfect (perfect stamps, perfect paper – you know).
So, people – mostly men for some reason – flow in and out of the double set of double doors, feeling obligated to say hello or nod to which I’d say hello or nod back, unless I was head down peeling the self-adhesive Lady Liberties from their sheets.
[Which is a story in itself because the self-serve vending machine only takes cash, and I didn't have enough cash for all the stamps I needed, so I moved over to the machine that let's you weigh your own packages and it takes debit and credit cards, but it only allows you to charge up to $50 worth of stuff, so I had to use three credit cards to get everything I needed, which was over 300 stamps.]
And now and then I’m the only one in the P.O. And then I hear a shout from behind the wall. The wall through which you can deposit your mail, either through the typical slots with a little door and handle you can open for bigger quantities. AND a wall that has a big metal drum-roller contraption which is next to the ordinary slots.
Thus begins the Jill Goes Postal drama:
“Ma’am! Don’t you be puttin’ anymore regular mail in here, you hear me?!”
“But it says right here on the drum, ‘You may deposit….stamped domestic mail that weighs less than 16 ounces.’ That’s what I put in there.” [If you clicked on the link for seeing the drum, you can see the sign I saw on the bottom right. It's too small to read in the picture though.]
“I don’t care what it says.”
“I’m just following the instructions.”
“I’m just gonna tell you one more time. If you put mail in here, I can’t guarantee your mail is goin’ get anywhere. It don’t belong in here.”
Okay. I’m having yet another “let’s trick the good citizen moment.”
“Well, it says right here that this mail can go in here.”
“Lady, you can’t put no regular mail in here. It’s for the machine next to it.”
“But I bought the stamps from the machine next to it!”
“Look, lady. You don’t want your mail delivered you keep puttin’ it in there.”
“What’s your name?”
Gridiron metal cage door SLAMS down onto the floor.
“What’s you name?”
“You just wait. I’ll take care of that!”
About two to three minutes later, a woman walks out. Says she manages the place everyday starting at 4am and I’m the only person to ever misuse the drum.
Pahleeze.
She doesn’t try to tell me that yes, she can see that the signage sucks. No, she wants to insist that I am screwed and am screwing with them. As if the P.O. doesn’t already have us all by the cajones anyway?
“I read the directions. If I came in off the street, had a letter to mail, walked to the slots, walked to the drum, and read the instructions, the instructions indicate that I can mail my letter in that drum.”
To her credit, manager lady never raises her voice, she also doesn’t like that I’m insistent (I probably wouldn’t have either, to be honest).
“In all my years, you are the only one, ma’am, to not use that drum correctly. But you have pointed a flaw out to me and now, because of that, I’m going to put a sign up over the drum that says parcels only because that’s all it’s supposed to be used for.”
Well then why the f**k doesn’t the post office just make a sign that says that in the first place?
Way too easy, I guess.
And now, I’m sure, they have me on camera.
Not to worry – I took pictures of the sign.
And.
I have a blog.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:05 pm August 26th, 2006 in Politics | 9 Comments
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