Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Been a strange day here

In the local area there have been a series of killings, all unrelated.

In Bonne Terre, a small town of 4000 just Southwest of where I live, there was s Murder Suicide after a young couple decided to break up. The 19 year old woman was attempting to break up with her boyfriend. She had moved in, bring her baby, with her mother and step-father. It began with a chilling 911 call, with a female caller screaming that someone was trying to kick down the door of their duplex. By the time the Chief of Police arrived, a male subject, apparently the boyfriend, was seen running towards a highway. when confronted by other officer responding, the male subject apparently turned the gun on himself. He died at the scene. The 19 year old mother, was gravely wounded, apparently defending her baby, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The mother and stepfather died at the scene. Survived was a three year old at the scene and the baby in the car in the driveway where the mother was found. There was also a 10 year old brother of the 19 year old who was at school who also survived.

In another incident, at a funeral of a man in North St. Louis, notorious as gang territory, shots rang out and two people were killed in that incident, with another being left in critical condition in the hospital. The gentleman whose funeral was so rudely interrupted, was the victim of a shooting that at this point remains unsolved. The police escorted the hearse to the cemetery where family members were not permitted to attend.

An Eight Year old boy was shot on the night of the 29th, and was injured but is in the hospital, after the car he was riding in with his father was shot at by unknown assailants. The boy was hit in the back and the father drove to the nearby Juvenile Detention Facility where the boy was then take to a local hospital. Police believe that the father was the target of the shooting due to the fact that he has a long criminal record. The father was also injured, but refused medical treatment.

A man was found shot in the head in Route 66 State Park, a short distance from where I live. A vehicle seen leaving the scene was linked to a standoff at a local comic book store in South St Louis in October where police confronted a man who was being arrested for statutory rape and other charges. The vehicle was last seen leaving the park heading back towards St. Louis.

And last, but not least, on the Illinois side of the river in East St. Louis, a grandmother was strangled in a house where she lived alone. Apparently she surprised an intruder who had broken into her home. There are no suspects.

Everything seems senseless when life is given such value. Petty arguments are settled with firearms. The senselessness of all of this appalls me. This is not a typical day of killing in our area, but is not atypical of any American city. There have been nights of gangland carnage on the Northside, where upwards of ten kids get shot to death in gang turf wars. But this is spread over a large area and affects all demographics and people of color and non-color. A woman defending her child, a senseless argument at a funeral of a man who was gunned down senselessly, a man gunned down for no apparent reason in a place of peace, a young life which was almost taken out and his potential removed from the world and an innocent old woman who was doing nothing more than trying to exist in an apparently insane world. Now I know why one would want to retreat to the mountains to get away from a world of violence.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

I am wet.

This from the weather service yesterday:

000
SXUS73 KLSX 250731 CCA
RERSTL

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
130 AM CST THU NOV 25 2010

...A MAXIMUM DAILY RAINFALL RECORD SET AT ST. LOUIS MO...

A RECORD RAINFALL OF 3.08 INCHES WAS SET AT LAMBERT INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT IN ST LOUIS MO ON WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 24TH. THE PREVIOUS
RECORD WAS 1.73 INCHES IN 1987.


$$




Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Brown "Bailout"

I came across something recently that has troubled me. Knowing something and seeing something are two very different things. There is a new provision in the FAA Authorization Act which will change the way the labor negotiations are conducted for Air Express package companies. Instead of the Federal Railway Labor Act which has been used to govern most airline companies, the provision requires the use of the National Labor Relations Act.

Since Federal Express is primarily a non-union company they have began a campaign to oppose this provision labeling the campaign "Oppose the Brown Bailout." In tiny letters at the bottom of the page, it states that the web page is "brought to you by Fed Ex Express."

UPS is primarily a union company. What Fed Ex apparently objects to is the fact that the bill will according to one article: "language in the House version of the bill that would make it easier for certain FedEx Express workers to form local union bargaining units. It has spent millions on its lobbying effort, as has UPS, which supports the provision." This will benefit not only UPS, but all union based Trucking and shipping companies who use Air Express services.

Fed Ex is using its corporate might to promote what is clearly an anti-union stance which will result in keeping the status quo vis a vie union organization in shipping services. With the new Republican Congress, it is unlikely that the provision will be considered in the lame duck session. Yet, Fed Ex has sponsored a campaign to block this legislation and has apparently been successful.

Another corporation has used its might to cripple union organization and negotiation capacity.

UPS Explains their position here and I have been a little clumsy in explaining it. What I have a problem with is a major corporation campaigning against a provision which allows union organization. Fed Ex functions on a company wide basis as far as union organization is concerned. UPS, since it started as a primarily trucking based company functions as a group of individual Union provisions at each terminal. Fed Ex has none of those limitations.

In the commentary below I can further amplify my opposition to Fed Ex's corporate clout, but it is clear that UPS and Fed Ex are two very different operations.

About Me

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I am interested in CNG vehicles because they are good for the environment and aren't powered by dead Marines. I still have a little hope for the world. Read the musings and enjoy.