Undernews: May 12, 2012

Florida's stand your ground law doesn't work if you're black
Grounded by US Airways
School 'reformer' Joel Klein now advising Murdoch
Do journalists even care about the working class?
Super weeds threasten food production
Rahm Emanuel's war against First Amendment continues
British police join in austerity protest
Michelle Bachmann discovers she is actually an American
What Republicans feel is less important that more military spending
Chicago & Secret Service reported plotting forced evacuation during summit
Dead man wakes up at funeral

Why is music so unimportant?

Steve Guttenberg, CNET - In the 1960s of Don Draper you had to flip the LP over every 20 minutes to keep the music going. In 2012 music never stops, but people stopped actively listening. Music is always "on," in a supportive role as a soundtrack to other activities. I'm not just talking about recorded music; when I go to concerts and clubs I see that a sizable percentage of the audience is texting or otherwise involved with some sort of device...

..I'm relieved that people still pay to hear live music, and if bands can survive that way, that's a good thing. I'm all for it, but will bands continue making records (with their own money) when it's always a losing proposition? I doubt it; fewer records will be made. And the ones that are will have to be done on smaller and smaller budgets. That doesn't bode well for the future of recorded music.

A solution to the immigration problem

Make it illegal not only to be an undocumented immigrant but to be the descendant of an undocumented immigrant. Since our first immigration law wasn't passed until 1875 (and that only applied to Asians) this would allow the better part of the country to be deported (including much of the Republican Party leadership) thus easing our budgetary problems substantially. It would also help latinos elect their first president.

In the alternative, we might face up to the fact that a huge number of us are here because some immigrant snuck into this country without documentation - a foul practice that began in places like Jamestown and Plymouth.

By 1860 the percentage of undocumented immigrants was higher than it is today. About that time a state legislator in Illinois wrote:

"As a nation we began by declaring 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it, ' all men are created equal, except Negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read, 'all men are created equal, except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty¬to Russia, for example, where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy."

That immigration slouch was a Republican named Abraham Lincoln. - Sam Smith

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@ BorowitzReport - That awkward moment when you can't remember if you held down a gay kid & cut off his hair

Flotsam & Jetsam: Grounded by US Airways

Sam Smith

For the modest project of flying from Nashville TN to Portland ME, it recently took me 12 hours, twice as long as scheduled. So far as I could determine accidents or weather were not in any way involved.

It started when, at Washington DC, US Airways decided at the last minute to replace its normal plane to Portland with a smaller one. My wife and I were among about a half dozen passengers in rows 19 and higher and the new plane only had 18 rows.

No one would tell me the cause of the switch. As an alternative, US Airways offered a flight six hours later and a $150 ticket credit. Not wishing to wait at Reagan Airport for six hours, I negotiated seats on a flight to Boston, along with van service to Portland. I would get a $200 ticket credit. My bags would be transferred to the Boston flight. The ticket agent seemed extremely unclear how to accomplish this lengthy task but she told me that when I arrived in Boston I was to go to the baggage service office and ask for someone named Pokey who would authorize the van. I boarded the plane to Boston with a smug feeling of accomplishment.

It was too soon.

At the Boston baggage service office, an agent told me that Pokey no longer worked there, but after some further and clearly undesired questioning, another clerk admitted that Pokey could be reached by phone. And what about my bags? There seemed complete indifference to this question although by pressing the matter I got the agent to locate them in Portland.

Pokey was contacted and a van showed up. But now another issue arose. The surly agent next to the one I had been talking with, announced that she was fed up with authorizing things without the proper papers and she wasn’t going to do it again. The implication was that I had, through inattention to duty, ruined her day. I don’t believe she ever looked me in the eye.

I had clearly turned into the enemy. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told I couldn’t but eventually got a first name and last initial. Which wasn’t really necessary because as I pressed further, one of the agents finally got off his seat and produced the supervisor from the adjoining room. She had no interest in helping me either and finally one of the agents said, “I guess you’re on your own.”

Nearly an hour had been spent on what they still call “service” in the corporate world.

We finally found safe haven aboard a Concord Coach bus to Maine, an ever pleasant, if slow, experience featuring free water, free wifi and a free movie (but not free pretzels northbound because the Boston airport won’t allow it).

Then we took a cab to the Portland airport, where by mid evening, things tend to slow down considerably. I made my way to the baggage pickup area but noted quickly that US Airways had no office there. I asked a Delta guy why that might be and he replied, “Rent.” The pleasant woman behind the airport information desk warned me not to go to the distant US Airways counter because there would be no one there. “Sooner or later a US Air person will show up,” she said.

After tiring of waiting for that elusive person, I went to the ticket counter. There was indeed no one there. A airport staffer suggested knocking on the door next to the counter which I did without success. He then suggested that I keep my eye out for a short red haired woman wearing an airport jacket.

It was now approaching 12 hours since I left Nashville. Suddenly, I had a revelation. It’s not just our politics and our economy that are falling apart. The fantasy world created for us by corporate America is breaking down as well. Plane trips will become as disjointed and misguided as bank bailouts and failed stimulus packages. US Airways is being run by people as incompetent as Republican members of Congress who think that cutting expenditures solves everything. There are no longer customers to serve, only budgets to cut.

The reason I knew I wasn’t exaggerating was because that very day I had read an article by Brad Plumer in the Washington Post about how – despite increased ridership – urban public transit was falling apart:

“Public transportation in the United States has faced a perverse situation these past few years. Thanks to high gas prices, more and more Americans are riding buses and trains. But thanks to budget crunches, transit agencies are actually cutting services at the exact same moment.

“Over at Transport Politic, Yonah Freemark has a post highlighting one particularly dramatic example of this in Pittsburgh. Due to a $64 million funding shortfall, the city’s Port Authority is threatening to close roughly 40 percent of its routes in the city this year….

“The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston recently carried out a series of service cuts because of a $161 million funding shortfall even though overall ridership rose roughly 3 percent last year. States and cities don’t have the money to keep up with growing ridership.”

When I got home I checked out some investment analyses of US Airways. Said one:

“While the distant past was challenging, the previous recession nearly forced US Airways back into financial distress. Last downturn marked the second-worst period for the United States' airline industry since 1980, as scheduled passenger enplanements (the total number of passengers boarding a plane) fell 3.5% in 2008 . . .Faced with this daunting revenue situation, US Airways slashed domestic capacity by 10% and systemwide capacity by 7%. These steps enabled the firm to remove about $650 million in operating expenses while recording a 10% drop in costs per available seat mile, the best amongst its legacy peers. Going forward, we estimate that the capacity reductions could save the firm a minimum of $700 million per year.”

I was, it seemed, just another reduction in costs per available seat mile.

Fortunately, all my problems had been on the ground. The pilots were fine and one woman attendant even lip synched the male recorded safety message, the only time I’ve heard passengers laugh during such somber pronouncements.

But I couldn’t help feeling that US Airways had given me a peek at what America can look forward to. The ads will continue along with the boastful corporate claims, but the era of the customer as someone to serve and help will go the way planned by people like Paul Ryan for Social Security and food stamps.

The red haired women in the airport jacket finally showed up. In minutes, this amiable exception to my day found our bags and sent us on the way.

And as I headed for my car, I thought, “Well, at least we’ve still got Concord Coach.”

Do journalists even care about the working class?

John Russo, Center for Working Class Studies - A few weeks ago, George Packer, staff reporter for The New Yorker, spoke as part of our annual lecture series. Packer titled his lecture, Do Journalist Care About the Working Class? His response was basically, “No!” He argued that the American public is more concerned about celebrity and success stories that often reinforce the American Dream.

While job loss affects people of all classes these days, readers seem more interested in stories about hedge fund managers losing half their fortune than in profiles of manufacturing or service workers losing their jobs. In part, these attitudes reflect the confusion most Americans have about class. When asked the open-ended question, “what class do you belong to,” most Americans say they are middle class. But if given four options lower, working, middle, and upper class - about 45% choose working class, and about the same percentage identify themselves as middle class.

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