George Rebane
Our liberties continue to be ratcheted downward. Our daily round, as it were, is taking place in an ever smaller corral. As RR readers know, this is one of the national issue threads that I am compelled to track in these posts. A recent ratchet click is reported on the CABPRO Report in ‘OHV Use on Public Lands Threatened: Overview of the 2005 Travel Management Rule’. And on the same blog Assemblyman Dan Logue argues in ‘Decentralize California’ for the decentralization of power in California that may be seen as an effort to undo some of these ratchet clicks. No one expects that to happen because it is only through a strong centralized government that wealth can be forcefully redistributed. The Peter-Paul Principle simply will not allow the return of local control. Nevertheless, it is good that we remind ourselves now and then of what kind of pussies we have become.
Editor Jeff Pelline strafed NC Media Watch again and took Russ Steele to task for discussing the decline of “pulp newspapers” (fighting words for Jeff) and how our beloved Onion should make an effort to save itself. Russ and I have been strong proponents of that newspaper transforming itself to THE community’s online source for information and ecommerce. We both want the Onion to revert back to The Union and survive for another 150 years. So it is with ongoing amazement we witness the kind of dialogue that the current editor of the paper carries on with its critics. Jeff’s response to Russ’ critique was the usual personal attack (“… put your money where your (big) mouth is …” in the comment thread here. I, for one, would like to see Jeff give a solid and sober response to the question of The Union’s survival while the country echoes with the slamming doors of newspapers shutting down. As examples of the kind of responses that would speak well of our newspaper’s management and help resolve the community’s concern, I offer –
1. The Union is a going and growing concern in the Swift Communications family. The rumors of its imminent demise are greatly exaggerated.
2. The Union is currently not profitable but has a plan to soon return to profitability through its print and online operations, and Swift has pledged to support the newspaper through the execution of its current plan forward.
3. These are difficult times for all newspapers across the land and made doubly so by the current economic downturn. We at The Union are working with our parent Swift Communications to come up with a plan that will continue this newspaper’s historical legacy of which we are the current custodians. We ask for your support and ideas in these difficult times.
It’s worth a try.
Speaking of the economy, Cato recently published ‘How Did We Get into This Financial Mess?’ by Lawrence White, F.A. Hayek Professor of Economic History at the University of Missouri. It’s short, to the point, and worth a read. Here is its Executive Summary and link to the paper.
rebanesruminations.com 
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