Andrew Warner

Retail giant Circuit City is rewarding its most loyal workers by laying them off.

In a move to cut costs, the company is openly and blatantly firing workers with higher wages and replacing them with lower wage employees. Makes sense on paper. But who is going to want to work for a company that offers that type of opportunity for advancement?

While their move certainly makes sense to their accountants, it probably won't work out the way they think it will.

Analysts and economists said the move is an uncertain experiment that could backfire for the chain. The risks: Morale could sink and customers could avoid the stores. Also, knowledgeable customer service is one of the few ways Circuit City can tackle competitors that include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., they say.

"This strategy strikes me as being quite cold," said Bernard Baumohl, executive director of the Economic Outlook Group. "I don't think it's in the best interest of Circuit City as a whole."

I, for one, won't be taking any business to Circuit City in the near future. Maybe this will inspire them to organize their work force so this won't happen again.

Labels: labor, Social Justice

Posted by Andrew Warner at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments   

The New York Times is reporting that President Bush is rejecting Democratic efforts to create a timetable for withdrawal.

The provision passed the Senate by a narrow 50-48 margin and appeared to put President Bush in an unusual position – he looked as if he might actually have to compromise with the legislative branch.

Bush, sadly but expectedly, has dug his heels in and is ready to fight for his failed war. That leads us right back to the worn-out blame game that defines American politics.

From the NY Times:

That puts Mr. Bush in the difficult position of fighting the new Democratic majority on two fronts, both the war spending and the prosecutors. On Wednesday, he seemed in no mood to back down from the war spending fight. As he quoted a newspaper editorial — from The Los Angeles Times, though he did not mention it by name — accusing Democrats of “the worst kind of Congressional meddling in military strategy,” Mr. Bush appeared almost eager for a battle. And Democrats seemed eager to give it to him.

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House speaker, said Mr. Bush should “calm down with the threats,” and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said his impression was that Mr. Bush “doesn’t want anything other than a confrontation.”

Better that we have a fighting congress than a congress that blindly enables the will of a reckless president.

Labels: Iraq, National Politics, war

Posted by Andrew Warner at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments   

This one is brought to you by PETA and movie star Casey Affleck. I figure it's only fair I show it here since network TV refuses.



Watch more videos at PETA.org
“Order a FREE vegetarian starter kit at GoVeg.com.”

Labels: animal rights, Vegan

Posted by Andrew Warner at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments   

With the Republicans announcing their slate a while ago, and the Charterites offering up their slate a few days ago, there's little for Cincinnati to be excited about.

Maybe the Democrats will turn the tide and give us a young, exciting slate of candidates to shake things up.

Ha.

Sadly, it looks like another year of candidates telling us how much crime there is and how much they can put a stop to it with more jails and more cops.

At least we still have Christopher Smitherman to keep the power structure off-balance. Hell, with him in the running we might actually get an independent elected. Anything to keep the current council from getting too comfortable.

Labels: Cincinnati

Posted by Andrew Warner at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments   

As The Enquirer continues to push the abstinence debate forward, I start to appreciate the fact that we have blogs – it's the only way the truth can come out some times.

I wasn't a teen all that long ago (I'm now 23) and I guess that makes it easy for me to see why abstinence education is silly. Had my school not had the common sense to teach me about condoms, STDs and the emotional reactions teens experience with sex, I wouldn't have been armed to make smart decisions. Thanks to a simple health class that taught the facts, I'm not a baby's daddy and I've never had Chlamydia.

Yes abstinence is an option. But it's hardly "part of a curriculum." It's a couple sentences that should be dropped in amongst valid, useful information – like how to avoid the clap.

More importantly, the state doesn't need to provide funding to teach abstinence. What does the money go towards? Mandatory artificial pregnant bellies for horny teens to wear around school as a reminder of consequences?

What I haven't seen in The Enquirer's coverage of the abstinence education debate is, well, the other side. They continue to cite numbers of decreased pregnancy:

Ohio's program has been considered a national model, and supporters point to the reduction in teenage pregnancies in recent years. In Ohio, teen pregnancy rates have decreased from 42.3 pregnancies for every 1,000 females between the ages of 10-19 in 1997 to 33.1 in 2005.

These are compelling stats, but there's no iron-clad proof that abstinence education is the responsible party. The Dean of Cincinnati points out with the Cincinnati marijuana issue, numbers games are easy to play.

What questions aren't answered by the MSM here? For starters, what percentage of female teenagers are on birth control? Has this number increased? Has Planned Parenthood (or other similar groups) been forced to order more condoms because more kids are coming in to get them?

Citing the stats is helpful, but crediting them to something that may or may not be responsible is intellectually dishonest.

At least Governor Strickland is more realistic than the editorial board at The Enquirer. Once the board starts telling the whole story, I'll start listening to them. Until then, it's just an opinion.

Labels: Cincinnati, media, Ohio politics

Posted by Andrew Warner at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments   

The marijuana ordinance that does nothing but clog jails and waste police officers time is up for renewal. Luckily, being a concerned citizen who knows a stupid law when you see one, there is an easy link set up so that you can tell council how silly this law is.

Let 'em hear it.

Labels: Cincinnati, Downtown, Social Justice

Posted by Andrew Warner at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments   

Ted Strickland impressed me when he decided to make the abortion pill available, and is impressing me more now that he is shucking abstinence only sex education.

BS masters like gubernatorial failure Ken Blackwell have a bunch of reasons to keep telling horny teenagers not to have sex, but the reasons are moral judgments and not solutions to problems.

"Unless you're totally giving up on character development of our young people, abstinence education is a must," Blackwell said. "I believe that young people of character can overtake instincts to engage in premarital sex."

That's what you get when you let middle-aged, father types weigh in on teenage sex. As if kids who have sex in high school are amoral delinquents.

Please.

It's refreshing to see Ohio is growing tired of these judgmental politicos.

Labels: Ohio politics

Posted by Andrew Warner at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments   

Yesterday marked the four-year anniversary of the Iraq War and, appropriately, war critics gathered to protest at Fountain Square.

The Enquirer, as expected, was there to cover the event. At least that's what you'd expect from a major newspaper like the Enquirer. But some how, Quan Truong and Howard Wilkinson ended up writing a story about Iraq War supporters instead of simply covering the event that they should have been assigned to cover.

Interesting.

Truong and Wilkinson should be familiar with the industry-standard "inverted pyramid" style of writing. For those who don't know, the "inverted pyramid" is a style of writing based on the assumption that people are only going to read the first couple of paragraphs (if not only the first paragraph) of a news story. Therefore, editors and teachers make you cram all of the key information into the lead and the next couple of paragraphs.

So why does the beginning of a local war protest story look like this?

The fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq was marked Monday with protest and prayer, and thoughts for local families of soldiers killed.

John Prazynski of Hamilton is one. In May, it will have been two years since his 20-year-old son, Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, died.

As painful as that loss was, he supports the war that took the young Marine he was proud to call his son.

"When somebody comes up to me and wants to give me all the reasons why we shouldn't be there and why we should get out now, the first question I ask them is if they are getting all their information from the newspapers and the TV," said Prazynski. "If they say yes, I tell them to go talk to somebody who has been there, in uniform. They'll tell you why they believe in the cause."

On April 9, Keith and Carolyn Maupin of Union Township will mark the third anniversary of the capture of their son, Sgt. Matt Maupin, near Baghdad airport. Maupin remains the only U.S. soldier listed by the Pentagon as captured.

As you can see, the writers chose to skirt the actual event and dive right into parents who have sacrificed and want that sacrifice to mean something.

Might work for a companion feature (where you're supposed to buck the pyramid a little), but makes no sense as event coverage.

Eventually the writers did start talking about the actual protest, but long after most readers have flipped the page or clicked a new link.

Sloppy writing at best, clear bias at worst.

Labels: Cincinnati, Downtown, Fountain Square, Iraq, media

Posted by Andrew Warner at 7:09 AM | Permalink | Comments   

Read my take on the Dems HERE.

Labels: Cincinnati, Iraq, National Politics

Posted by Andrew Warner at 8:32 AM | Permalink