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Nov
2
Additional Wide Open/Steve LaTourette Round-up
Filed Under Blogging, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | Comments Off
The Seminal (an independent media blog)
Johnathon Williams (also someone who’s been in online journalism)
No Land Grab (focused on the Forest City angle)
Bob-Schwartz (related to but different from yesterday’s link from South Dakota)
By the River (last two paragraphs, because that blogger’s paper is a sister rag to the PD)
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:51 pm November 2nd, 2007 in Blogging, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | Comments Off
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Nov
2
Bush counsels Americans to ignore MoveOn and Code Pink
Filed Under Civil Rights, Congress, Foreign Affairs, Government, Politics, Social Issues | Comments Off
President George Bush spoke at the Heritage Foundation yesterday. During a speech he gave there, he projected the idea that “the only way to defeat terrorism is to ‘advance freedom as the alternative to radicalism.’”
The problem is, his other comments in that speech suggest that he thinks Americans should “…spend more time listening to the messages and threats of Osama bin Laden, and ‘less time responding to the demands of MoveOn.org bloggers and Code Pink protesters.’”
But isn’t that the exact opposite of showing that we cherish and enjoy…freedom?
Just to see if I understand:
We need to advance the idea that freedom is the alternative to radicalism, in order to defeat terrorism.
And the tools that we should use to defeat terrorism include advancing freedom as the alternative to radicalism.
But when people use freedom to organize and express themselves, in the form of, oh, say, groups like MoveOn.org and Code Pink, Bush wants us to ignore that expression, being made by millions of Americans.
Or, at least spend less time responding to the demands of MoveOn.org and Code Pink protesters. Bush must be thinking of how preoccupied members of his party in the Congress became with MoveOn.org’s tactics last month.
But still, okay – Bush is not out and out saying that people aren’t free to organize and express themselves via such groups. He’s just saying that they not be given any time, or much time, or at least less time.
I’m a big proponent of ignoring what I don’t like when it comes to obnoxious comments and so on. But it seems to me that I recall some folks more on the Bush side of the aisle who said that ignoring amounts to reinforcement of the behavior, whereas showing outrage will get people to stop or change their behavior.
Sounds to me like Bush is going the ignore route, not the outrage route. In some ways, I guess I support his tactic – because he is counseling that people exercise their freedom to not notice.
Works for me with a whole bunch of things. Hmm, maybe he’s got a point – even if it isn’t the one he thought he was making.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:22 pm November 2nd, 2007 in Civil Rights, Congress, Foreign Affairs, Government, Politics, Social Issues | Comments Off
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Nov
2
No Wine Country Gift Baskets for you, Ohioans!
Filed Under Business, Economy, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse | 3 Comments
Yup, got my Wine Country Gift Baskets catalogue today, along with two inches of other junk mail. And on the back of the catalogue:
The note about the states to which the company will ship? It appears at the bottom of every, single page of the 26 page catalogue.
With sincere apologies to Keith of Bad American, because I know Matt Dolan is his state rep. and wants us to give Dolan a chance to correct the problems (and I agree – we should let him address the problems), I still must say that “press time” must have been before Dolan got too busy to review the new law, when it was still in his committee and just a bill. (Sorry Keith – I can only contain so much snark – my bad, I know.) According to that article, the law cuts off shipments from more than 100 California wineries. The Wine Country Gift Basket.com company ships from California.
The blog, ShipCompliantBlog.com has a few excellent posts with the details of the restrictions and advice for how wineries can get permits to ship. Another excellent tool from The Wine Institute gives us the links to the rules and regs. However, I haven’t yet found the list of wineries prohibited from shipping. Anyone else find one? I spent a few minutes on the state Liquor Control website, did some searching but couldn’t find anything. That definitely shouldn’t be interpreted as there being no list, but it’s not obvious.
I did find this information for consumers:
Direct Shipping for Ohio Consumers
Wine can be shipped directly to Ohio residents for personal use from an Ohio or out of state winery that holds an S permit issued by the Division of Liquor Control.
Wine that is shipped directly to Ohio residents for personal use from an out-of-state retailer requires the Ohio resident to complete and submit to the Division of Liquor Control an “Ohio Excise and Use Tax Filing” form (see below), and pay the appropriate taxes.
Ohio residents who wish to have beer or low-proof mixed beverages shipped directly to them for personal use from either a out of state beer or mixed beverage manufacturer or out of state retailer are required to complete and submit to the Division of Liquor Control an “Ohio Excise and Use Tax Filing” form and pay the appropriate taxes.
Ohio residents who have purchased from outside Ohio and bring beer, wine or low-proof mixed beverages into the state for personal use are also required to complete and submit to the Division of Liquor Control an “Ohio Excise and Use Tax Filing” form and pay the appropriate taxes.
Unless wine is shipped directly to the consumer by the holder of an S permit, the following restrictions under Ohio Administrative Code section 4301:1-1-23 apply.
(1) The alcoholic beverage is for the Ohio resident’s personal use and not for resale;
(2) The laws of the United States allow the shipment of the alcoholic beverage into the United States.
(3) The alcoholic beverage is not registered for sale in Ohio.
(4) All taxes due the state of Ohio shall be paid at the time that the consent is requested from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control.
(5) In no event shall the amount of alcoholic beverage to be brought into Ohio exceed fifteen gallons per family household in any three-month period. No amount may be cumulated with any later or earlier-issued consent, and no amount may be pooled with shipments pursuant to any other consent.
(6) If the alcoholic beverage is shipped into Ohio and not personally brought into the United States or Ohio by the purchaser, the shipment may only be received by the individual purchaser named on the sales or shipping order. No other designated person, by way of power of attorney or any other method, may receive said alcoholic beverage.
Anyone think that the companies stuck like WineCountryGiftBaskets.com would have a legal action against Ohio for its print costs and extra customer service time they’ll have to allot to help people in Ohio realize that they may not be able to get the wine?
It would be nice if our local paper of record had an online resource to help us figure all this out, seeing as how the state doesn’t seem to provide all that much practical, easily understandable advice. Well – I don’t understand it all. Maybe I just need it to be easier than most people need it.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:36 pm November 2nd, 2007 in Business, Economy, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse | 3 Comments
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Nov
2
THIS is a conflict: “Industries paid for top regulators’ travel”
Filed Under Blogging, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 4 Comments
While the Plain Dealer wants to convince people that the pittance we received as remuneration under a freelancer contract (as opposed to employee-employer contract) was enough to cause anxiety over possibly compromising the paper’s reputation, this article from the Washington Post describes the kind of conflict that really matters, to you, me and the newspapers:
The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children’s furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.
The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency’s acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Notable among the trips — commonly described by officials as “gift travel” — was an 11-day visit to China and Hong Kong in 2004 by Stratton, then chairman. The $11,000 trip was paid for by the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, an industry group based in an office suite in Bethesda whose only laboratories are in Asia.
Ethical?
Several ethics experts and lawyers say the two administrators’ travel records, some of which they reviewed at the request of The Post, suggest a conflict of interest.
“This is a blatant violation of the ethics code,” said Craig Holman, an expert on governmental ethics law for the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. The rules allow nonfederal sources to pay for trips, “but not if you’re a private party with business pending before the agency,” he said.
So where’s the line?
Some say the [Consumer Product Safety C]ommission’s approach to gift travel points to a Bush administration philosophy that favors engaging corporations in policymaking that affects them. “This administration apparently has taken the position that speaking and appearing before the regulated community, even where there are enforcement matters pending, does not create the appearance of a conflict,” said Kenneth Gross, an ethics lawyer at Skadden, Arps.
“These are difficult and subjective lines to be drawn,” he said. “Prior administrations have drawn that line in a different place.”
Oh, so, you mean, everything isn’t black or white. Ahhhhh….
We’ll give the last word to:
F. Gary Davis, who helped establish the Office of Government Ethics in 1978 and served as its general counsel and deputy director until 2000, said the government-wide regulations were imposed “to ensure that there is no appearance of impropriety when you’re dealing with a prohibited source.” He said that it is conceivable that some of the CPSC’s industry-sponsored trips were justified but that in those cases, the agency should be prepared to make its decision-making records available.
Sigh. I could be really snarky but frankly, I don’t [fill in the blank with your best shot].
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:57 pm November 2nd, 2007 in Blogging, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 4 Comments
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Nov
2
Editor & Publisher weighs in on Wide Open’s demise, hints at its future
Filed Under Blogging, Campaigning, Elections, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 6 Comments
Here’s the article from Editor & Publisher.
And for the first time I’m learning that the project is in fact suspended:
“A car can’t run on two wheels, and Wide Open can’t continue with only one side of the political spectrum represented,” Jean Dubail, assistant managing editor/online, wrote in a note on the blog today. “So we’re going to call an indefinite halt to the project and step back to re-group. We still believe that newspaper and newspaper websites need to engage the new media. Our first effort in that direction obviously didn’t fare well, but it would have been a still greater mistake not to make the attempt. Over the next few days and weeks we’ll be giving a lot of thought to alternative ways of accomplishing the same end.”
The future prospect?
Dubail said the paper did not believe it could find liberal replacements who would adhere to the restrictions, and added that paying them might create an ongoing conflict for the paper.
“We believe the atmosphere had become super-heated over this thing,” Dubail said. He said the blog may resurface again, but through an unpaid approach that would limit some of the potential conflict problems. “That is probably our next step, to review something like this on an unpaid forum.”
E & P did a good job with the story. Thanks.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:47 pm November 2nd, 2007 in Blogging, Campaigning, Elections, Government, Media, Ohio, Politics, Wide Open | 6 Comments
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Nov
2
Cleveland Jewish leaders dismayed at Imam Alzaree’s resignation
Filed Under Blogging, Civil Rights, Culture, Jewish, Judaism, Media, Ohio, Politics, Religion | 12 Comments
As I would have imagined they’d be.
I’m not going to reprint the entire piece, I shouldn’t and won’t do that. But I would urge those who are interested in the views of Jews, especially those who aren’t Jewish who like to tell us what they think we should think is anti-Semitic and intolerable and who need to hear from Jewish leaders themselves.
From the Cleveland Jewish News:
Leaders of the Jewish community, who had reserved comment on [Ahmed] Alzaree until he arrived in Cleveland and they learned more about him, found themselves feeling somehow implicated in his resignation.
“It will never be a good start for me and the Jewish community,” the Egyp-tian-born cleric and father of five young daughters told the Plain Dealer, saying he would look elsewhere for a job.
No one in the Jewish community took any action surrounding the imam, leaders say.
“Oh my gosh, they’re blaming us,” says Shari Kochman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, speaking of her reaction to news that Alzaree resigned because blogs painted him as anti-Semitic. “We were giving him the benefit of the doubt, a cautious but hopeful approach to his coming to Cleveland, and were looking forward to forging a partnership. It is a shame but not a surprise that somehow the Jewish community is implicated in this.”
I’ve written before about Lashon Hora and how even caterers in town won’t malign one another but instead, work to tell you how good they are, without putting others down. Lashon Hora is the same as murder in Judaism and is part of the basis for why the Jewish leaders mean it when they say that they will reserve judgment.
Another example of exactly what I would expect from the Jewish leaders:
Rabbi Richard Block of The Temple-Tifereth Israel, who’s been very active in interfaith relations, was surprised to see the imam name relations with the Jewish community as central to his resignation.
People in the Jewish community “were looking forward to his addressing those concerns and getting off to a good start,” Block says. “I would like a very positive relationship between the Jewish community and the Muslim community and if possible with the Islamic Center.”
Alzaree’s use of the hadith was “not the best choice of words,” acknowledges Zahid Siddiqi, general secretary of the Islamic Center. But the media, he said, did not “give the gentleman a chance to prove himself. He was proven wrong before he even came. That’s the power of the press.”
My emphasis.
Unfortunately, it is this final comment by the Islamic Center’s leader that really describes the repercussions of Fawaz Damra’s behavior (from the CJN, he “was deported last January to the West Bank for concealing his ties to terrorist groups on his citizenship application”) and why moderates, or anyone who is repelled by extremists’ behavior, must speak up and become active, to show that that is not all there is to their religion or issue.
Even more discouraging than not having a permanent imam is “not getting the acceptance of the Jewish and the Catholic community,” says [general secretary of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Zahid] Siddiqi, noting that the mosque once had a good relationship with both religious groups. “Now they have shied away from us. Why? Because of somebody who has been reprimanded and punished for it.”
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:40 am November 2nd, 2007 in Blogging, Civil Rights, Culture, Jewish, Judaism, Media, Ohio, Politics, Religion | 12 Comments
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