Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
Friday, October 7th, 2011
My title is not meant to imply I am happy Steve Jobs died. It is very sad that a man who was a father and husband died prematurely. He was an important person in the history of American business. It is just that I don’t get why there has been all the fuss. The media coverage has turned him into a figure on the level of Thomas Edison.
Steve Jobs did not invent personal computers. My first computer was a Kaypro. I have never owned a Mac and I don’t like them. I hated the commercial where they implied Mac users were young, hip, and cool while the rest of us were old and stodgy.
Kaypro Computer
I have had a Nano for about six months and it is okay. It is very small but the touch screen is very hard to use so I always “shuffle” my music. This limits its versatility and puts it on par with the $10 mp3 player I previously had.
I found the media coverage, which has been extensive and pervasive, puzzling. Jobs died on Wednesday night, the same night that as many as 20,000 people were in downtown Manhattan marching against the excesses of Wall Street and capitalism. There were also demonstrations in over 160 cities the same night. Except for Keith Olbermann on CurrentTV, the main stream media did not really cover these events but focused on Jobs instead. Was the death of a CEO of a corporation more important than Occupy Wall Street? I don’t think so.
The main contribution of Apple and Steve Jobs to American society has been one of marketing. He created products that people felt they could not do without. Did that change society? Maybe. Did it change society for the better? Maybe not.
Tags: Business, History, New York, Politics
Posted in Business, History, New York, Politics | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
I have been doing research on Anne Bennett, wife of John Bennett, president of Union Theological Seminary from 1963-1970. Anne was a committed anti-Vietnam War activist. Her husband was a founding member of Clergy and Laity Concerned. Martin Luther King, Jr. was also a founding member.
In 1967 he gave this speech to a meeting of the group at Riverside Church, New York City. The speech is amazing and makes me realize, once again, what a great man he was and what a loss his assassination was.
King showed tremendous courage in speaking out against the Vietnam War. I wonder where such a leader is today. We deeply need someone who can connect the issues of militarism and imperialism to issues of social justice.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tags: History, New York, Obama, Politics, Religion, Women
Posted in History, Politics, Religion, Women | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 1st, 2011
I just watched this video from the Obama campaign about the debt ceiling deal and wrote this email in response.
I am sorry but I am not buying it. The Republicans got every thing and the American people got nothing. The President should have insisted on a clean up or down vote on the debt ceiling and if that failed used the 14th Amendment. I am seriously considering withdrawing my support. I worked very hard for his election in 2008 and donated more money than I ever have to anyone. I am very disappointed.
Tags: History, Obama, Politics
Posted in History, Politics, Taxes | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Another interesting panel at the ADHS conference was “Regulating Alcohol in the 20th Century.” W. Scott Haine spoke on “Vichy’s Greatest Victory: Liquor Licensing and Urban Renewal in Occupied France, 1940-1944 and its enduring legacy.” The Vichy government waged a battle against cafes and aperitifs. The government passed seven different laws concerning liquor during the war. A 1943 zoning law sought to cure under population that the government felt was caused by alcoholism and the social life of the cafe. They wanted to move people from the city to the country. Interestingly when the Vichy government fell, the Resistance governments continued the same restrictive zoning and social policies.
Dan Malleck’s talk was on “Viewing and rev-viewing the public space: Ontario, 1927-1944.” Following the end of Prohibition in Ontario, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario licensed hotels to provide alcohol. Hotels were the only place people could drink. He provided very interesting maps that showed both the establishments that were licensed and those that weren’t as well as the surrounding neighborhoods.
William Rorabaugh spoke on “U.S. Alcohol Control after Prohibition”. The paper was really about the three-tier system of liquor production, distribution, and retail sale. This system grew out of the 21st amendment and is still the basic system of organization for alcoholic beverages. Washington is one of eighteen states that have a State Liquor Control Board. Recently Costco has sued to be allowed to bypass the three-tier system and sell directly to consumers.
The three-tier system works very well for large alcohol producers and has created a powerful trade association, the National Beer Wholesalers Association. Some craft brewers feel that the system prevents them from having equal access to shelf space and widespread distribution. At the same time, other craft brewers who have expanded nationally are pulling back. Dogfish Head Brewing, located in Delaware, pulled out of four states because the brewer was concerned with meeting demand while maintaining quality. Several other craft brewers have taken similar action. Voluntarily giving up shelf space and market share is not something that either regional or large brewers would have done during the intensely competitive atmosphere of the late 20th century.
Craft beers, however, are a niche product and withdrawing from some markets could increase demand for the product. Since the brewers have framed their market withdrawals within a context of a determination to maintain quality, these actions could also increase the commitment that craft beer drinkers have to the product.
For more on brewers withdrawing from markets click here.
Tags: Beer, Business, History, Politics
Posted in Beer, Business, Craft beer, History, Liquor Industry | No Comments »
Friday, July 1st, 2011
The June/July issue of Yankee Brew News had two stories about Connecticut brewing that I think illuminate the shape of the craft brewing industry today. On May 11, the Connecticut Senate passed a bill establishing the Connecticut Brewery Trail. In June, the House passed it and the trail will go into effect today. Connecticut already has a wine trail. The marketing of breweries as tourist sites is an important part of the development of craft beer. As a niche market with deeply loyal customers, the chance for these customers to see where their favorite beer is produced as well as acquire paraphernalia from that brewery is very appealing.
Also today, the liquor industry in the state faces an increase in the sale tax as well as a floor tax that will apply to what retail stores already have in inventory. Yankee Brew News claims that these new taxes represent a 20 percent increase. Many other produces are also facing tax increases including tobacco. For more on these taxes click here.
Craft beer is a highly fashionable upscale product that also holds a special place in both the federal and state government’s treasuries. I have been surprised that more states have not already turned to alcohol beverages to shore up their deficit budgets.
Tags: Beer, Business, History, liquor sales, Politics
Posted in Beer, Business, Craft beer, History, Liquor Industry, Politics, Taxes | No Comments »
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
On Saturday, I went to Hartford to attend a Rally to Save the American Dream in support of the workers in Wisconsin. The best part of the demonstration was singing Solidarity Forever. The events in Wisconsin seemed to have revived the labor movement, which has been quiescent for the last twenty years or so.
The past few months I have been wondering why there were no demonstrations in America over things like the failure to extend unemployment benefits to the 99ers, the war in Afghanistan, and the extension of the tax cuts for the rich.
Governor Walker’s naked power grab seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back and people are finally responding. One of the signs at the demonstration Saturday said Unions Make Us Strong. I really believe that. What you win in struggle is much harder to take away.
In such an overtly capitalistic country as America there must be a counter veiling force. Because we no longer make anything, it is much harder to have a viable labor movement. The low paying service jobs at McDonald and Wal-Mart’s have seemed impervious to organizing. The country needs a strong, vital labor movement that will stand for social justice.
The title of this post is from Phil Ochs Links on the Chain, which explores the less than perfect record of mainstream unions toward people of color, women and gays. It also lays out the case for unions perfectly.
For more information about the Rally to Save the American Dream go to MoveOn.org
Links on The Chain
Tags: History, Politics
Posted in Future plans, History, Politics | No Comments »
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
Here are two links to my interview with Barry Eva: Interview with Barry Eva. If that doesn’t work try this: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/across-the-pond
Tags: Beer, brewing, Brewing Battles, Business, History, Politics
Posted in Beer, Craft beer, History, Liquor Industry, Taxes | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 30th, 2010
Blizzard of 2010 - The Bronx
I have been watching with some amazement how New York City is dealing – or not- with the blizzard of 2010. Where I live we had about seven inches of snow. It was all clear by the end of Monday. The roads were back to normal by Tuesday morning. Of course, the population of my town is but a fraction of New York’s.
The problems the city has behaving, however, seem to be more related to poor planning and communication rather than the size of the city or the storm. In 1969 I was in high school in New York and we had a snowstorm that closed schools for a week. Because it took at least that long to clean up Queens, Mayor John Lindsay’s popularity plummeted. The next year he was defeated in the Republican primary and ran on the Liberal Party line instead.
Mayor Bloomberg has already overstayed his welcome, gaining a third term through questionable means. His failure to manage the snowstorm may mean the end of any presidential ambitions he might have.
In my capacity as a nurse, I belong to the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). As part of our training we practice and re-practice immunization drills. As a result, last year, when we had to have multiple flu clinks to give flu shots, all went perfectly because we had trained so much.
When the governmental response to a crisis is poor as in the case of Hurricane Katrina and the blizzard of 2010 it indicates lack of planning and training. New York City has emergency plans; they just did not use them. This means that some people in charge failed to understand the gravity of the storm. This is another problem with emergency responses. Humans are in charge so the possibility of an error in judgment always exists.
John Lindsay
Tags: Emergencies, Health care, History, New York, Politics
Posted in Health care, History, New York, Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010
December 5 was the seventy-seventh anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition. Jay Brooks has a video from the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) on his site. Two years ago, to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary, I wrote a series of posts about various issues facing the liquor industry since Repeal.
Those posts were on my pre-wordpress blog and are very difficult to recreate. I invite anyone who is interested to click here and read them in their original format.
I have had my wordpress blog for almost two years. By and large and I am satisfied although I continue to find wordpress difficult to use. Since I started trying to tweet more I realize I blog less.
Tags: Beer, Blogs, brewing, Business, drinking, History, Politics
Posted in Beer, Blogs, History, Liquor Industry, Politics | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
I just finished writing a review of Garrett Peck’s The Prohibition Hangover: Alcohol in America from Demon Rum to Cult Cabernet. You will have to wait to read the review in its entirety until The Historian is published. The book is an interesting survey of the current liquor industry. One thing that stood out in the book was how much the liquor industry is using tourism as a way to promote itself.
Wine tourism, particularly in California, is very big business. One could make the case – Peck does not – that the best aspect about the liquor industry for the American economy is that they produce their products in America. They make something and offer traditional, well paying unionized jobs, particularly at the macro brewing level. If the industry shifts its’ focus toward tourism and away from production, these jobs will be replaced by lower paying service jobs, a familiar story for much of American industry.
Of course many places want to become tourist attractions. As part of the Little Berks, on Saturday I went on a walking tour of Florence, Massachusetts. Florence use to have some industry; Pro Brush was a big employer. It closed in 2007. The David Ruggles Center is trying to restore and promote the history of the village. Florence was involved in many of the reform movements of the nineteenth century including the water cure, abolitionism, and the underground railroad.
Sojourner Truth Statue Florence Massachusetts
Sojourner Truth lived in Florence for a while and there is now a beautiful statue of her there. The house she lived in still exists but looks completely different. Local historians would love to be able to restore the house. If they do, it will certainly be a tourist attraction. Many of the places we have gone this year while traveling also hope to have something that will produce a steady stream of visitors.
Tags: Book Reviews, Business, History, Politics, publishing, Sojourner Truth, Travel, Women, Writing
Posted in Book Reviews, Business, History, Liquor Industry, Women | No Comments »
