March 2004

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Simon Chardiet and Dexter Romweber

Filed under: Imported

Back in college I used to occasionally go see a band called Simon & the Bar Sinisters. Usually they played the Rodeo Bar. Simon Chardiet was the frontman. He was once in a legendary NYC group called The Worms (a.k.a. Joey Miserable & the Worms) with Jono Manson, but that was before my time.

Simon was a little guy with a shaved head and a maniacal smile. More importantly he played the guitar like an absolute sociopath: careening around the tiny Rodeo Bar stage and into the crowd, crushing peanut shells underfoot, bumping into tables, and producing mind-blowing surf punkabilly guitar riffs. The shows were chaotic, bizarre, and ridiculously fun.

Simon's schtick never translated well to disk. He put out two albums (one with the Bar Sinisters; one solo), but neither is particularly interesting. The one track that I still throw on every once in awhile is "Speed, Weed & Whiskey," Simon's hilarious rant about losing his own personal war with drugs. Apparently he still occasionally play the Rodeo Bar.

All this is a rather roundabout way of recommending the Dexter Romweber show tomorrow night at the Turf Club. Romweber's another guitar madman, choking out a kamikaze mix of punk, rockabilly, surf, and blues. Like Simon, his albums, whether solo or with the Flat Duo Jets, have never captured that spirit. Listening to them is kind of like smelling beer. You don't quite achieve the desired high.

As it turns out, Dexter and Simon once paired up for a 45 on Norton Records.

Posted by Paul Demko at March 30, 2004 5:51 PM

 

Democracy in America

Filed under: Imported

California's first attempt at electronic voting has been a disaster. According to the L.A. Times, roughly 7,000 voters in the March 2 primary were given the wrong ballots. This resulted in people voting in precincts where they don't live. In Orange County the screw-ups may have caused the wrong person to be elected.  

In the 69th Assembly District, 33 voters received the wrong ballots and weren't able to vote for six open seats on the Democratic Central Committee. Art Hoffman finished seventh in the race--losing by 13 votes. Of course there's no way to actually figure out what happened because there are no paper ballots. Whether Hoffman was actually elected by the voters will never be known.

Oops. Sorry Art! Better luck next time!

Posted by Paul Demko at March 30, 2004 4:06 PM

 

Ready For Freddy?

Filed under: Imported

The redoubtable Grant Wahl has a piece on 14-year-old soccer phenom Freddy Adu in this week's SI. (It's not available on-line.) Wahl deftly chronicles the insane marketing push that Adu has inspired ($1 million endorsement deal from Nike; filming Pepsi commercials with Pele), and what awaits him in the forthcoming MLS season:

Now that Adu has earned the confidence of his team, he can focus on a more imposing challenge: his opponents, many of them veterans earning five-figure salaries, who may resent his newfound wealth and attention. "I'm going to have a big X on my back now, because some of these guys have been in the league a long time, and here comes this 14-year-old kid making this amount of money," Adu says. "But I didn't think it was going to be easy when I made this decision, and I'm ready for it. There's going to be a lot of mouthing off at me and a lot of hacking. That's part of the game."

Adu will be on "60 Minutes" this Sunday. He makes his MLS debut next Saturday at 3 p.m. (CST) on ABC.

Posted by Paul Demko at March 27, 2004 1:03 PM

 

Bush/Cheney '04: No More Ass Fucking

Filed under: Imported

The Sloganator lives!

(Cribbed from Bruce.)

Posted by Paul Demko at March 27, 2004 12:30 PM

 

More Grocery Wars

Filed under: Imported

The next front in the supermarket wars will take place in the Washington, D.C. area. This Tuesday, 18,000 workers at area Safeway and Giant stores, which control roughly half the local market, will vote on whether to accept a new four-year contract. If the pact is rejected, the members of UFCW Local 400 could vote to strike. The supposed bogeyman in this dispute is not specifically Wal-Mart, but rather "non-union stores."

Today's Washington Post lays out the parameters of the conflict but is short on specific details.

Giant and Safeway, arguing that they need to trim labor costs to compete with nonunion stores in the region, have zeroed in on three major issues: wages, pension contributions and health care costs.

[Harry Burton, lead negotiator for the two supermarket chains,] said the stores and the union have reached several tentative agreements, but each "is contingent on the entire package." In the first round of talks, Giant and Safeway asked the union to accept cuts in Sunday pay and vacation time for new workers, according to a copy of the proposal.

Oh Great: only wages, health care, and pensions are in dispute! Given that the UFCW was financially devastated by the just concluded five-month grocery strike in Southern California, and given that Safeway proved itself a ruthless negotiator in that dispute, it's difficult to imagine that the union will actually go on strike. Most likely scenario: in order to preserve their wages and benefits, current employees will sell out future hires--just as ultimately happened in California. 

(Although as this L.A. Times story makes clear, Safeway chairman Stephen Burd didn't come out of the strike completely unscathed.)

Posted by Paul Demko at March 27, 2004 12:02 PM

 

Mr. Walton Goes to Washington

Filed under: Imported

If a corporation intends to cheat employees out of their wages, violate labor laws, hire illegal immigrants, and discriminate against women and disabled people, it might be wise to have a few powerful political friends in Washington. That's the realization that Wal-Mart, the world's biggest corporation, is belatedly coming to, according to today's Wall Street Journal. In recent years the company has transformed itself from a corporation that famously disdained the scrum of politics to one of the top influence peddlers on K Street. Since the WSJ is subscription only here's a few choice grafs:

In Washington, Wal-Mart has five lobbyists on its payroll, and a bench of hired guns led by Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., one of Capitol Hill's best-known lawyer-lobbyists. The company's political action committee was the biggest corporate donor to federal parties and candidates in 2003, with more than $1 million in contributions -- up from $182,000 during the 1997-98 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission disclosure reports. Wal-Mart's PAC ranks as the second-largest in Washington, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization that tracks political giving. ...

Unlike most corporations, which contribute to both parties in rough proportion to Congress's partisan split, about 85% of Wal-Mart's checks go to Republicans. And recently Mr. Allen was named a "Pioneer" by the Bush campaign, meaning he has raised at least $100,000 by getting friends and colleagues to make contributions of up to $2,000 each.

The story goes on to detail how Wal-Mart has beefed up its presence in Washington dramatically since 1999--after its attempt to move into the banking business was thwarted by Congressional regulators.

Congressional allies rushed to offer advice, including Trent Lott, then Senate majority leader. Mr. Lott arrived in Bentonville in late 1999 with a simple message, according to a congressman who attended the meeting: Increase your profile and open your wallet.

So Wal-Mart executives set out to beef up their political action committee -- an account made up of voluntary employee contributions that executives use to make political donations. (Federal law prohibits direct corporate contributions to party committees and candidates.) At an August 2000 meeting attended by thousands of Wal-Mart managers, buckets were passed around for donations, as well as forms authorizing automatic paycheck deductions for the PAC.

For some employees, the pressure to contribute became a point of contention. "With my district manager sitting 3 inches over my shoulder, you think I didn't sign up?" recalls Jon Lehman, a Wal-Mart manager who quit in November 2001 and is now working with union organizers to enlist Wal-Mart workers. Current Wal-Mart employees, who asked not to be named, also report feeling pressured to give to the PAC.

Mr. Allen says Wal-Mart doesn't force workers to give to a PAC; such an action would be illegal. "I regret" that employees felt pressured, says Mr. Allen. "That is not the intent at all."

Wal-Mart managers boosted PAC contributions to $703,500 in the 1999-2000 election cycle from $230,800 in 1997-98. When Sen. Lott issued a call for help for Republican candidates in the late summer of 2002, Wal-Mart's PAC donated $50,000 in September and $101,000 a month later -- mostly to Republicans. "They came through, and people knew it," recalls a former Republican senatorial aide.

(Thanks to Perry.)

Posted by Paul Demko at March 24, 2004 4:01 PM

 

That's Why God Invented Booze and Crystal Meth

Filed under: Imported

Gov. Tim Pawlenty believes that Minnesota taxpayers should spend $1 billion on pro-sports stadiums so that us poor, stupid citizens won't be bored. According to the Pioneer Press account of Monday's press conference, Pawlenty explained that we need to build new homes for the Twins and Vikings because we live in a relatively small, cold state. "We've got to have some stuff for people to do."

Posted by Paul Demko at March 17, 2004 2:20 PM

 

RE: Manufacturing Czar

Filed under: Imported

Dear President Bush,

Please consider this application for the newly created position of "manufacturing czar." I am confident that I bring numerous unique qualities that would enable me to perform admirably in this new post. Most notably, I was once employed in a cup factory at which I constructed cardboard boxes for eight hours a day while wearing fluorescent green earplugs.

In addition, unlike Anthony F. Raimondo, your previous nominee for this position, I have never been responsible for laying off American workers and relocating their jobs to China. In fact, as best that I can recall, I have never employed any workers whatsoever. It is thereby fundamentally impossible for me to have ever outsourced any jobs to any foreign country. And I hereby pledge to you that, given the opportunity to be the nation's inaugural "manufacturing czar," I will refrain from ever employing anyone in any capacity.

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Paul Demko 

Posted by Paul Demko at March 15, 2004 2:46 PM

 

LNW! EXCLUSIVE!: THE WAR ON TERROR IS NEARLY WON!

Filed under: Imported

Those multiple bombings in Spain that killed some 190 people this morning? Merely proof that the infidels are desperate and nearly vanquished! You see, when those loony Arabs begin blowing people up it means that they have been all but driven into obsolescence by Team W.

 

Praise Jesus!

 

(Anyway, this was the line of reasoning that Limbaugh put forth today in explaining to his listeners why the terrorists were making trouble in Spain. I guess we'll know for certain that we've won when they once again begin blowing shit up on U.S. soil.)

 

Posted by Paul Demko at March 11, 2004 6:35 PM

 

We'd Be Satisfied if He Merely Had to Endure an Extremely Painful Bout of Gallstone Pancreatitis for the Next 50 Years

Filed under: Imported

"I hope John Ashcroft dies. This song is called 'Patriot's Heart'" -- Mark Eitzel, at last night's American Music Club gig at the Fine Line.

Posted by Paul Demko at March 8, 2004 2:57 PM

 

Grocery Workers Take It In The Teeth

Filed under: Imported

It's gotten practically zero national press coverage, but the massive supermarket strike that has roiled Southern California for five months has come to an end. Since October some 70,000 grocery workers at more than 800 stores owned by three different supermarket chains have been either on strike or locked out of their jobs. Over the weekend the workers overwhelmingly voted to ratify a new three-year contract.

While on its face this would seem to be good news, the contract details as laid out by the Los Angeles Times are grim. Most significantly, the United Food and Commercial Workers union agreed to a two-tier employment system. This means that new hires will be paid substantially less than present employees, although the exact details are not yet clear. In addition, after five months on the picket line, workers won't receive a penny in raises. What's more they'll be getting less generous health benefits than in their previous contract. According to the Times, by the third year of the contract, workers would likely be paying $5 per week for individual health insurance and $15 per week for family coverage.  

The end result is, quite simply, the beginning of the end of the only decent retail jobs. Under their present contract, grocery workers in Southern California earn, on average, $13 an hour, with gratis health care and generous pension plans. No other sector of retail, which is overwhelmingly non-union, offers its workers anything remotely close to this kind of pay package. According to 2000 figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most recent year for which data is available, the average hourly wage for cashiers was $6.95.

There's no doubt that every other grocery chain has been closely watching what went down in Southern California. It surely wasn't lost on them that Wall Street stood firmly behind the hard-line bargaining stance of the supermarket chains, propping up their stock prices even as they hemorrhaged more than a billion dollars in sales. Every unionized company in the country will be invoking the specter of Wal-Mart when it comes time to sit down at the bargaining table, just as the grocery store chains did in California. Companies will insist that they simply must cut wages and gut health benefits in order to compete with Wal-Mart and its low, low prices, damn the consequences for their employees.

(My favorite piece detailing Wal-Mart's pernicious impact on the economy is this Fast Company article. But there's been no shortage of damning articles about Wal-Mart in recent months: try here, here, here, and here.)

The failure of the Southern California strike is reminiscent of the Hormel strike in Austin, Minnesota in the mid-80s. Just as that signified the end of the mighty meatpacking unions, a decade from now I fear that the Southern California grocery strike will look every bit as significant. The work stoppage has financially crippled the UFCW. No grocery union will risk going on strike for a very, very long time.

Posted by Paul Demko at March 1, 2004 2:52 PM

 

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