EXTRA EXTRA! Post all about it! (new news thread)

[Doctor Bob]

The 610 year old Namdaemun Gate in Seoul burned down.

[diesel_powered]

WOW. That really really sucks.

[Doctor Bob]

Sure, although the attitude towards historic fabric in Asian countries is very different from our western perspective-

The two-tiered wooden structure was renovated in the 1960s, when it was declared South Korea's top national treasure, and again in 2005.

The Cultural Heritage Administration said it would take at least three years to fully restore the gate.

"There is no problem in restoring the gate to its origin," Kim Tae-young, an administration official said, adding that detailed plans were made after the gate was measured in 2006.

http://breaking.tcm.ie/world/mheyidmhqlkf/

[coldforge]

If you believe that, I've got a presidential axe (or a pair of philosophical stockings, or a Hellenic galley) to sell you

[andronicus]

I find it somewhat difficult to put into words how hilarious this is and how much respect I have for Warren Buffett right now.

[Maaik]

I find it somewhat difficult to put into words how hilarious this is and how much respect I have for Warren Buffett right now.

Someone's gonna have to hold my hand and explain this to me really slowly as if I were a five year old.

[elpollodiablo]

Basically Buffet is sticking his finger in the eye of these three companies that provided insurance backing on securities and loans (as I understand it). These companies were making money hand over fist for a long time, but now that the bottom's dropped out of housing and people are defaulting all over the place, lenders are cashing in their insurance policies in a big way and the financial solvency of these insurance firms is falling apart.

I read something the other day about how if these insurance companies go, it's gonna ripple out through all of the global financial markets and generally fuck shit up. I'm sure richard can give you a much more nuanced and better-informed take on it, but... yeah.

[DCDave]

He's also saying "You guys want a bail-out?  Here's a bail-out. You guys want a no-strings-attached federal bailout?  Fuck yourselves."

[elpollodiablo]

Holy fuck, GM is offering buyouts to every single one of its UAW employees:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/12/news/companies/gm/index.htm?cnn=yes

Not to reduce the headcount, but to bring in workers at lower cost.

[Andrew_TSKS]

Holy fuck, GM is offering buyouts to every single one of its UAW employees:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/12/news/companies/gm/index.htm?cnn=yes

Not to reduce the headcount, but to bring in workers at lower cost.

OH MY GOD. that's such a naked "fuck you" to workers everywhere... i'm blown away at the sheer balls of that kind of move.

if i were in that situation as a uaw worker, you'd have to put a gun to my head to get me to accept that sort of thing.

[jebreject]

I was just coming here to post that story. Yeah, I don't really know what to say to it, other than that it's fucking disgusting.

[Maaik]

Holy shit that's fucked.

[YojimboMonkey]

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/01/14/belle-gunness.html

The century-old mystery surrounding the death of Belle Gunness, perhaps the world's most prolific female serial killer, might be finally solved, following DNA testing carried out by a team of U.S. researchers.

I had never read about this case.  Of course, I have not made a study of prolific serial killers.  Anyway I found the article interesting. 

[andronicus]

I was just coming here to post that story. Yeah, I don't really know what to say to it, other than that it's fucking disgusting.

Let the UAW fucking die.  John L. Lewis shits his grave every time the UAW is mentioned these days.  In the modern economy having entire industries organized en bloc is not as advantageous for us as it once was anyway.  The Change to Win coalition has proven it's figured out how to hold the ground in an extremely adverse labor environment already, something the AFl-CIO never even bothered to try.  Last year the labor department posted the first uptick in percentage of unionized laborers in more than a quarter century.  Speaking of which I need to email my old labor history prof to gloat; he was skeptical of CtW when they split from the AFL. 

[elpollodiablo]

I mean but that's 74,000 people who are getting fucked out of a job, man

I'm sure you're right in the long term as far as that goes, but that kinda hit isn't good for anybody

[jebreject]

I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know anything about Change to Win!

Re: AFL-CIO, I think most of you can guess how I feel about trade unions.

[andronicus]

I mean but that's 74,000 people who are getting fucked out of a job, man

I'm sure you're right in the long term as far as that goes, but that kinda hit isn't good for anybody

Well they're not being forced to take the buyout.  But yeah, it is shitty, that much is tremendously obvious.  There's also really nothing that anyone can do about this particular fucking.  You play the hand you're dealt.  Or you throw down the cards, pick the dude up by his lapels and shake him up a little.  The CIO used to not be afraid of doing a some of the latter. 

Jeb Change to Win is basically the union federation formed by the main service industry unions (SEIU, UNITE-HERE, The International Laborer's [forgotten the acronym] the Teamsters, the UFCW, plus the carpenter's union of all things, for reasons far far far too sordid to go into at any length here) when they got sick of the AFL-CIO sitting around with their thumbs up their asses.  They're not interested in using the NLRB as a crutch anymore, harkening to the old Gompersian distrust of government sponsorship and in favor of action and direct bargaining to achieve their goals.  They also recognize that the future of unionism is at some level essentially an identity movement (like feminism, black empowerment, etc), and are making noises at least about disaggregating bureaucratic power and giving increased autonomy to the locals.  All things I support.  I'm not you know overly optimistic, but a couple years down the road and things seem to be going pretty well for CtW.  My mom is a UFCW member, so I'm sort of like a second cousin of CtW or something!

[Thermofusion]

How do you guys feel about the State Teachers Federated Union?

[DCDave]

About the same as I feel about anyone who fucks kids.

[Andrew_TSKS]

How do you guys feel about the State Teachers Federated Union?

what? a google search returned no hits for that term. are you talking about the nea?

[coldforge]

S....tate..... T....eachers.... F..ederated....U... nion. U.......nion.

[Andrew_TSKS]

oh, i see, he's being subtle.

[Thermofusion]

it was a dumb joke to begin with

[C of heartbreak]

My mom is a UFCW member, so I'm sort of like a second cousin of CtW or something!

Dude I am UFCW and all that stuff was pretty sweet to hear. Does that make me like a CtW adopted child or something?

[jebreject]

I was UFCW for two years or so. I had no idea about any of that really, though I did know the UFCW had split from the AFL-CIO