Sept. 24, 2005 - 22:03 MDT

BITTER WITH THE BETTER

I have found myself the last few days hunched up tight to the TV, trying to hear what is being said about the tragedy in New Orleans, Katrina Hurricane and Rita's consequent redamage to the battered Big Easy.

Along with that I have friends on the East Coast and Gulf Coast that I have feared for. One couple live in Port Arthur where Rita made its landfall. We got word that they spent one night on the road and then next one in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Nagadoches, near a convenience store.

Thing I don't like about TV coverage is that no matter what channel I tune to, the same damn clips are shown over and over, often being given no clue of whether those are from the recent past or are live right now. Much like some of these foot ball games televised. What with the replays, clips of other games, and live shots from games in progress and the constant meaningless blather of sportscasters who have, I believe been been brainwashed to make sure that there is not one micro-second of silence on the air the game in progress on the tube is scrambled to the max.

In a way I have been sitting in mindless horror at what I do see and hear, that is, after filtering out the repeat-reruns. Takes me back to the days of viewing TV about the Kennedy assassination. When it happened our boss told us that Kennedy had been shot, for us to go home and come back when called on the phone. So my days were spent in front of the box trying to fathom what had happened and why. I saw John-john salute, over and over again, and the boots reversed in the stirrups of a horse. Seems like thousands of times the clip of Ruby shooting Oswald was shown.

Yet, the grief was there in my heart and soul, still is in fact.

Life does go on and news happens here and there, some of which is good and some, not so good.

Naturally, buried back in mid paper are two articles that are News ? to me. The first one in full:

Goodyear to close plants, reduce jobs."Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. said Friday it will close an undisclosed number of plants as part of a sweeping restructuring aimed at improving its North American tire business and saving up to $1 billion over the next three years."

"The Akron, Ohio-based company, the world's largest tire maker, did not say how many jobs would be affected, how many plants would be closed or their locations. but it did say it would FOCUS the cuts on high-cost plants and INCREASE SOURCING FROM ASIA as it seeks other ways to boost productivity while introducing new products."

"Goodyear says it plans to cut high-cost capacity between 8 percent and 12 percent, generating annual savings of $100 million to $150 million."

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Then a small item in the Rocky Mountain News today about Xcel, the big power company over a lot of the west, in full:

Xcel sending crew to work on Rita damage

"Xcel Energy is sending 51 linemen, managers and fleet mechanics from Colorado to help repair and rebuild any electrical infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Rita. The crews are scheduled to leave today for Galveston, Texas. Xcel received a request for assistance from Texas-New Mexico Power Co. to help restore power, and that utility will pay the crews for their work."

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So, it looks like Goodyear is joining the bunch who go for outsourcing. I suppose that like other corpserations they are using the excuse that to meet the world competition they have to send jobs to countries who will work cheaper. Corpserate Philosphy

Seems to me that somehow our government should have long ago prevented our businesses from outsourcing work, and also our government to my mind should prevent foreign interests from purchasing land or companies in the U.S.

Maybe then, our countrymen would have a chance.

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Xcel sending crews to Texas to help I think is a good idea, and assume (ass outa you and me) that they will be paid the wages they are already getting here.

Even so those folks will be going into hardship that they don't normally experience to help a sister power company get back on line. Admirable are those people and also that Xcel will send their employees to Texas.

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Life and history goes on, some good, some bad and some just plain old blah. Speaking of trying to eke things out reminds me of something Gracie Allen said to George Burns on one of their programs, "Sometimes you gotta take the BITTER WITH THE BETTER . . . . . . . . .

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