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Oct

22

What did EU Competition Commissioner Kroes feed Microsoft CEO Ballmer?

Filed Under Business, Courts, Economy, Tech | 19 Comments

In the several hundred words of this Associated Press article about how Microsoft finally admitted that it’s a monopoly and will stop being so greedy (total generalization, you’ll need to read the article and follow the story as it comes out tomorrow to understand it all), here’s the absolutely only thing that matters to me:

Daily phone calls between EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer over the past three weeks – and a dinner near her Dutch hometown – culminated in a deal early Monday.

Now – I’m no journalist’s journalist, but I know how to construct a good story more or less when I take my time, and even in a rush sometimes.

So, again – look at that one sentence in the context of the entire article.

Now – look at the one phrase offset by an em dash: “and a dinner near her Dutch hometown.”

Come on people – this is what we need to know about:

What did they say during those phone calls? Who said what and when? How did they negotiate?

I could care less about Trump and the art of the deal.

Tell me what Ballmer and Kroes did and how they did it.

Because if that woman was able to get that man to apparently end 13 years of litigation with an agreement that allegedly is going to cost them billions (despite the billions that they will still make), I want to know how.

How how how how how.

Doesn’t anyone else want to know!?!

From a Wall Street Journal article (in which Kroes is referred to as the EU antitrust czar – wow, czar!) about the deal, datelined tomorrow:

Mr. Ballmer and Mrs. Kroes brokered the deal at a small restaurant in the EU antitrust chief’s home country of the Netherlands, according to Mrs. Kroes. It was sealed in a telephone call early yesterday morning.

Under the agreement, Microsoft will license all of its intellectual property, except patents, necessary for competitors to work with a version of Windows used on business servers. Competitors will now pay a one-time fee of €10,000 for the license, rather than royalties. If they believe they need to license patents from Microsoft, Microsoft is required to give a license at the rate of 0.4% of the competitors’ revenue from the product, well below the 5.95% rate the company had once wanted.

Mrs. Kroes declared the U.S. software company was — at least for now — in Europe’s good graces. “As of today, the major issues concerning compliance have been resolved,” she said.

What was in that dinner?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:16 pm October 22nd, 2007 in Business, Courts, Economy, Tech | 19 Comments 

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Oct

22

Phil Burress: get some testifiers, would you please?

Filed Under Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Women | 2 Comments

Okay, Phil – tell us when the anecdotes about how the new restrictions on adult entertainment saved people from…whatever you think they are going to be saved from start to flood our inbox. Because, so far, not a single media or blog item has been published that details someone having been lost in the den of inequity and now saved because of SB 16.

Yet, given the gravity of what you believed to be a problem in Ohio (a lot of addicts and a lot of dancers who were trapped) there must be at least a few by now, yes? Stories of how because someone who wanted to go to an adult entertainment facility is now…doing what exactly?  And someone who wanted to leave one is now able to because…well, because you’ve made it illegal for her to choose otherwise?

Please tell us about all the transformations.

To this end, I’ve emailed the Citizens for Community Values the following letter:

Dear Mr. Burress,

No – this is not a joke email.  And it’s not one being asked out of sarcasm.

I am a freelance writer and blogger.  I did not support SB16 – I supported the laws that the Ohio legislature passed and enacted in August 2006 – I believe that the local authorities should have been left to determine and enforce the community norms within their areas, rather than the state.

However – since SB16 is now the law, and my understanding is that you pursued the law because you wanted to see porn addicts turn their lives around as well as deprive women of a choice that you believe could lead to no good for them, I would very much like to hear and/or read about the cases that are proving that this law was necessary and is working.

Again – I am not being sarcastic. I would assume that it would be your greatest victory to be able to provide such stories.

Now – if the local authorities had been allowed to act on the prior law, well, we’ll never know for sure how successful they might have been in likewise curtailing behavior which many people – myself included – believe is problematic.  But, instead, can you do that? Can you direct me, the media or anyone else who can publish some details with real people who have real successes because of SB16?

Otherwise, all we are reading are stories in the Dispatch and other forums about how scared dancers are and how broke businessmen and women are about to become because of SB16.

Show us the light – again, not in sarcasm, but for real.

Thank you.

I will let you know what I learn.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:28 pm October 22nd, 2007 in Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Women | 2 Comments 

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Oct

22

Tongue like silk: five nuns, a Lebanese waiter and a kosher deli

Filed Under Announcements, Business, Culture, Jewish | 1 Comment

In January 2006, I wrote this somewhat lyrical post about how the Second Avenue Deli was closing. I won’t repeat everything I wrote there – I’ll start to cry. But this article in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine, “A Counter History,” which I only read a few minutes ago, brought more tears to my eyes, except this time, because the deli is being reopened by direct relatives of the former founder.

Early next month, the Second Avenue Deli is scheduled to reopen in a building the Lebewohls bought at 162 East 33rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenues, a nondescript patch of Midtown near New York University Medical Center. “The doctors there are so excited,” Jack [brother of founder Abe Lebewohl] said. “Mostly the cardiologists.”

If you don’t know from deli or from the Second Avenue, well – your loss.

Who was Abe Lebewohl:

For 42 years, he was known for feeding people free, whether the homeless or striking union workers. Because the parents of the former Mets pitcher Frank Viola were regular customers, he gave a free salami to anyone with a ticket stub from a game Viola won. When the famed French chef Paul Bocuse was celebrated at an event in New York, Lebewohl sculptured a bust of him in chopped liver. He so revered the cultural history of the Lower East Side that he installed a Yiddish Theater Walk of Fame outside the restaurant so its stars would be remembered. He was not just a deli man but a force of nature, a Holocaust survivor who, as one employee said, “came to this country with a dollar and a dream except for the dollar” and was famous for his random acts of kindness. A woman I know once called the deli at 8 a.m., feverish with flu, and got Lebewohl on the line. By 8:30, he was at her N.Y.U. dorm room, chicken soup in hand, no charge. Both he and the Second Avenue Deli were cornerstones of life in New York City.

Until March 4, 1996. That morning, Lebewohl left the deli in his delivery truck to make his habitual deposit at a nearby bank. He was shot and killed, a victim of a robbery that remains unsolved to this day.

[snip]

“I begged him to stop going to the bank,” Jack said, noting that the month before he was killed, Abe had been robbed in the delivery truck. “I said, ‘For a few dollars we get a service, they’ll pick up the money and they go to the bank.’ And Abe said: ‘No, I enjoy that part of the day. I enjoy schmoozing with the people and going around.’ He said: ‘Listen, if they rob me, they rob me. I don’t resist, I just give them the deposit and that’s it.’ And unfortunately this time — I don’t know what happened, I wasn’t there. I just know Abe. He would not have resisted.” Jack wiped his eyes. “Some people talk on the calendar B.C. and A.D. To me it’s before Abe was shot and after Abe was shot. Because my life and my family’s life changed radically and drastically.”

Who are the customers:

Lebewohl says he expects the clientele at the new deli to be a mixed bag, as always. “The current cardinal, Egan, before he became cardinal, he ate in the deli,” he said. “Cardinal O’Connor ate our food.

“Kathleen Turner came in,” [Steve Cohen] said, “and one of the countermen told her, ‘I love your movies, and I loved your mother Lana’s movies too.’ Joe DiMaggio, all he would eat is chicken in the pot (half a boiled chicken in soup). Older people would come to the table, lean over and talk over his soup.” He mimed some slobbering. “I would keep coming back saying, ‘Let me change your plate.’ Paul Castellano used to come in three times a week for corned beef and pastrami. We had John Gotti. But my favorite was when we had five nuns eating matzoh balls served by a Lebanese waiter — in a kosher deli. That’s New York.”

Who are the cooks:

[General manager Steve] Cohen said that most of the same cooks will return. Just in case anyone thinks that means a crew of Jewish grandmothers, he elaborated: “They are Puerto Rican, Chinese, Haitian, Indian and from Central America. It’s the U.N. back there.”

We had a black chef who made delicious p’tcha, which is jellied calves’ feet, a real old-time Jewish recipe. And I said to him: ‘Eddie, it’s delicious. Where did you learn how to make p’tcha?’ He says, ‘Jack, I’ve been making this since I was a little boy, just with pigs’ feet.’ ”

What gets cooked:

matzoh-ball soup, corned beef, “high-quality, old-school kosher renditions of brisket or flanken or center-cut tongue like silk,” borscht, jellied calves’ feet – “a real old-time Jewish recipe” and more:
deli.png

My husband and I are going to NYC for a few days soon but the deli won’t be open yet. Wendy – maybe by the time we get there for ASJA? (It’s supposed to reopen next month, according to the article.)

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:51 pm October 22nd, 2007 in Announcements, Business, Culture, Jewish | 1 Comment 

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Oct

22

All Women Blogging Carnival #20

Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Carnivals, Writing | 2 Comments

I could have sworn I got my submission in on time (goes via Australia) but it doesn’t seem to be there (I sent it on Saturday).  Oh well – look for it next week I guess!

Here’s this week’s edition of All Women Blogging Carnival being hosted on Imaginif - I really different and interesting blog.

If you’d like to make a submission, you can do so here.

If you’d like to host the submissions and carnival, let Leigh know at All for Women.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:47 am October 22nd, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Carnivals, Writing | 2 Comments 

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Oct

22

Review of GOP debate on Fox

Filed Under Campaigning, WH2008 | 2 Comments

From Peace Chicken:

Go read the rest – those are just the highlights.

Like I wrote last night, I was busy helping raise money for Israel and honoring an incredible woman and listening to Micah Halpern. I wonder who he likes. I haven’t been able to track down much on that yet.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:58 am October 22nd, 2007 in Campaigning, WH2008 | 2 Comments 

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Oct

22

“Anti-war lefties” recruited for law enforcement

Filed Under Crime | Comments Off

Let’s pretend I buy your labels, just for this exercise.  Let’s pretend that many people buy the labels, just for this exercise.

Then why am I getting tens of spam asking me to join any and every sector of law enforcement?

Anyone else getting stuff like this too?  No more balding, no more wives from Thailand.  Just law enforcement jobs.

Here’s one from this morning already:

People of all ages are choosing to further their education by obtaining bachelors and even masters’ and doctoral educations.

Many people choose to go back to school to open new doors and get ahead in their field, as well as the rest of their lives.

http://www.aboutbasil.com/uniform/

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:37 am October 22nd, 2007 in Crime | Comments Off 

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Oct

22

GOP Women in OH GA: endangered species

Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, Government, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Women | 3 Comments

Might not be due to anything that Al Gore claims as his, but according to the Columbus Dispatch, the last GOP woman standing in the Ohio statehouse might be the last for a long while to come:

The testosterone level on the Republican side of the Senate couldn’t get much higher these days.

When Republican Sen. Patricia Clancy was ushered out of her seat into a county job two weeks ago to make way for fellow Cincinnatian Bill Seitz, half of the chamber’s GOP women disappeared.

In a state where females make up 51 percent of the population, being a female, a senator, and a Republican has been a lonely demographic combination for nearly nine years. Since 1999, no more than two women have served in the Senate GOP caucus at any one time, and of 21 members today, only Sen. Joy Padgett of Coshocton remains.

She’s not sticking around past 2008. Rep. Jimmy Stewart of Athens wants to take her place.

Unless former state Sen. Karen Gillmor decides to run next year, Senate Republicans have no female candidates lined up to join the team in 2009, meaning that for the second time in 24 years the caucus could be all-male and all-white.

And from Senate President Bill Harris (R) as to “what now”:

Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, insists his lack of “ladies” is not for a lack of effort. “We’ve just not been successful in doing that. It’s not been intentional.”

In addition to traditional family obligations that keep women from running, Harris blames term limits, saying that women in politics want more long-term, stable careers.

“Ladies so often have the ability to be more objective in their thoughts,” Harris said. “So often, men react very rapidly. I think in many cases ladies are more process focused, and if you have them in your caucus, they provide a sense of stability and a different perspective.”

Ladies? LADIES?

Sigh.

Lest anyone start off with the “men can rep women just as well as women can” thing, here’s what outgoing Senator Joy Padgett thinks:

Although she considers herself “one of the guys,” Padgett said, “It’s important to have several women in the caucus. When you’re looking at representing populations, there just aren’t enough women in the chamber, period.”

Senator Harris, I personally invite you to support the effort to bring the White House Project’s training in Ohio in 2008 and then send as many GOP women as possible. You can also check in with former GOP Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson who has her own foundation geared toward getting women into the pipeline, the Jo Ann Davidson Ohio Leadership Institute.

What exactly have you been trying to get the women in that would, you know, show us that the diminishing numbers isn’t intentional? (If I’d been the reporter, I would have asked Harris that.)

Hattip to Stubborn Liberal.

Cross-posted at Wide Open.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:21 am October 22nd, 2007 in Campaigning, Elections, Government, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Women | 3 Comments 

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Oct

22

Guest post on The Moderate Voice

Filed Under Blogging, Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment

Thanks to Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice for posting a guest post by me.

I really enjoy TMV – I strongly suggest people subscribe to its feed.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:18 am October 22nd, 2007 in Blogging, Jewish, Judaism, Politics, Religion | 1 Comment 

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