Dear Dr. Laura: Now you have added anti-unionism to your repertoire of negativity....
Ic
In the interests of full disclosure, I am an attorney representing the
Graphics Communications Conference, IBT, a union organizing employees
at the NP. I wrote the following to Dr. Laura yesterday, in response
to her two articles in the paper:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Frankly, I have found you to be a self-righteous, hypocritical and
hateful scold, but with your two recent columns in the Santa Barbara
News-Press, you have taken a step in yet another negative direction.
Since you claimed in one of those columns that the one critical letter
you received did not offer any reason for its criticism, I will simply
point out before getting to the main point of this e-mail, that you
have proven to be anti-gay, have posed as some kind of psychiatrist
when you have no such license or qualifications, you have reflexively
admonished women who wish to work outside the home or otherwise aspire
to a career, though you do the very thing you claim to disapprove of
and don't understand that not everyone has the same choices you have
been fortunate to have, and of course you have made moral mistakes but
maintain your sanctimonious posture nonetheless.
Now you have added anti-unionism to your repertoire of negativity. You
may have heard from your newspaper employer or study of history that
employees in this country have the legal right to organize themselves
and support a union.
A group of employees at the paper have done just that, demanding
recognition and the right to bargain for better terms and conditions
of employment, a right which has been protected by federal law for
about 70 years, and a right that the newspaper has rejected to date.
Among the improvements in their conditions they seek are the right to
have more of a voice as to what substantive writing appears under
their bylines, and a reconstruction -- that's right, reconstruction,
because it used to be there -- of the wall that all newspapers of
integrity have, between the editorial stances of the paper and its
news reporting. Indeed, your own columns thus far have breached that
very wall, because they are clearly reflective of the newspaper's anti-
union position (disclaimer notwithstanding), yet they appear in the
"news" section.
Ms. Schlesinger, were you hired by the paper specifically to be an in-
house opponent of the reporters' desires to restore the paper's
integrity and improve their lot? Or are you generally opposed to
unions, which you may recall, brought us the eight-hour day,
vacations, fair compensation laws, job security and protection, and a
voice in workers' relationships with management? Aren't you a member
of AFTRA? And even if you aren't, don't you enjoy the benefits of the
efforts of that union to improve the conditions under which people who
sit behind radio microphones work? Why is it that you would deny the
News-Press' employees these hallowed and time-honored protections they
have announced repeatedly and emphatically that they desire? Why do
you think so many of the experienced journalists are departing this
venerated and comfortable spot on the Central Coast of California,
often to move on to reputable media elsewhere?
It seems that you are once again taking the haughty view of the
comfortable, complacent person who has "made it" in this world and
flaunts the luxury of telling others to go elsewhere to "get theirs",
when in fact the history of this very paper, and the history of this
country, has been illuminated to a great degree by the unsung worker
who fought the odds and made his/her voice heard against management
heavy-handedness and shortsightedness. The Santa Barbara News-Press
isn't just any business owned by one person; it is a gem, an
institution that its workers and the community have a stake in, and
they together have proved that in the last two months
No one is saying that the News-Press should stagnate, but you are
mistaken to suggest, as you do, that its workers and others besides
Wendy McCaw (and you as her agent) should have nothing to say about
it. The law, the community, the writers and other workers who
contribute daily to making the paper a significant and influential
force, and the interests of justice, all demand that this venerated
local newspaper return to the establishment it once was, respectful of
journalistic integrity and the rights of its employees, and therefore
respected and cherished within the Greater Santa Barbara community.
Very truly yours, Ira L. Gottlieb
Posted by Ira Gottlieb | August 5, 2006 01:42 PM
[]
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIVISION OF JUDGES SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE
AMPERSAND PUBLISHING, LLC
d/b/a SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:n3fcvH1y0v0J:www.nlrb.gov/shared_files/ALJ%2520Decisions/2007/JD-SF-37-07.pdf+%22Laura+Schlessinger%22,Ira+Gottlieb&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us
Ic
> > In the interests of full disclosure, I am an attorney representing the
> > Graphics Communications Conference, IBT, a union organizing employees
> > at the NP. I wrote the following to Dr. Laura yesterday, in response
> > to her two articles in the paper:
> Can somebody post Our Ms. Laura's two articles?
We don't have access to the News-Press. Prehaps Nightship. I do recall
Ms. Laura mentioned the union. It was like a union-is-bad [third
grade] lesson... I don't think I saw the first two columns? The union
situation was/is huge since the NP meltdown. Before no one thought of
SB as a union town. Now with more financial ruin for the community...
Ms. Laura's irrelevancy seems more cruel.
Unfortunately the A2 columns aren't more accessible. Not that they are
readable, but someone needs to see what she's up to. From the little
I've seen recently, she's been real boring, she's been gagged it
seems.
> Do you know whether Our Ms. Laura has responded to this?
It's unlikely she would respond to that like a professional. Maybe a
whine to Lew. People post letters to the News-Press loyalists b/c they
refuse to acknowledge.
I only see that she hides in her nice, safe controled bubble. She
doesn't confront anything head on... unless she's certain to have
protection or it's all her terms. Santa Barbara is a small town, she
replaced a very available open professional journalist with her dark
scourge.
"Is it ironic or prescient that Dr. Brantingham used his former
space to warn of so many frauds?"
—Colin Powers,former presentation editor, Santa Barbara News-Press
http://www.independent.com/news/2006/aug/17/opinions-3/
This is the post of Gottlieb letter
http://www.independent.com/news/2006/aug/03/letters-4/
Letters 8-3-2006
> d/b/a SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESShttp://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:n3fcvH1y0v0J:www.nlrb.gov/shared_...
Ic
Saturday, November 22, 2008
http://moorparkmedia.blogspot.com/2008/11/gawkercom-launches-layoff-daily.html
Gawker.com Launches 'Layoff Daily'
From Gawker.com:
Media layoffs are becoming so frequent, and our email inboxes are
getting so overloaded with tips about firings, that we figure that we
might as well start a daily liveblog on the topic. Know about layoffs
hitting a media company? Post it in the comments below. We'll be
updating this post as new reports come in. So far today, we've heard
the Life&Style marketing staff got whacked yesterday and that Source
Interlink, publisher of Motor Trend and Soap Opera Digest is rumored
to be cutting 150 jobs ... Sadly, we're expecting more to come. [For
the squeamish you can always email us at ti...@gawker.com (but not from
your work account, kids!) or call our tip line at 646-214-8138.
[]
Before Robert Eringer, Laura Schlessinger was the Santa Barbara News-
Press union hack.
By Robert Eringer September 13, 2008
http://cryptome.org/teamster-dirt.htm
In an obscure lawsuit filed in New York a decade ago, ex-Teamsters
honcho Ron Carey incidentally revealed the names of the union's dirty
tricks henchmen under James Hoffa Jr., president of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Monday, June 02, 2008
This "Investigator" Is Clueless
http://craigsmithsblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-investigator-is-clueless.html
Two weeks after the paper first heralded his hiring, the News-Press'
new "investigative" reporter, Robert Eringer, finally had his first
story published in Saturday's edition of the paper.
Feds Prosecute News-Press for Temps Ruse
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/nov/06/feds-prosecute-news-press-temps-ruse/
Thursday, November 6, 2008
On Nov 20, 3:58 pm, Ic <lol7...@msn.com> wrote:
> > > Comments on “Letters 8-3-2006”
> > > In the interests of full disclosure, I am an attorney representing the
> > > Graphics Communications Conference, IBT, a union organizing employees
> > > at the NP. I wrote the following to Dr. Laura yesterday, in response
> > > to her two articles in the paper:
> > Can somebody post Our Ms. Laura's two articles?
>
> We don't have access to the News-Press. Prehaps Nightship. I do recall
> Ms. Laura mentioned the union. It was like a union-is-bad [third
> grade] lesson... I don't think I saw the first two columns? The union
> situation was/is huge since the NP meltdown. Before no one thought of
> SB as a union town. Now with more financial ruin for the community...
> Ms. Laura's irrelevancy seems more cruel.
>
> Unfortunately the A2 columns aren't more accessible. Not that they are
> readable, but someone needs to see what she's up to. From the little
> I've seen recently, she's been real boring, she's been gagged it
> seems.
>
> > Do you know whether Our Ms. Laura has responded to this?
>
> It's unlikely she would respond to that like a professional. Maybe a
> whine to Lew. People post letters to the News-Press loyalists b/c they
> refuse to acknowledge.
> I only see that she hides in her nice, safe controled bubble. She
> doesn't confront anything head on... unless she's certain to have
> protection or it's all her terms. Santa Barbara is a small town, she
> replaced a very available open professional journalist with her dark
> scourge.
>
> "Is it ironic or prescient that Dr. Brantingham used his former
> space to warn of so many frauds?"
> —Colin Powers,former presentation editor, Santa Barbara News-Presshttp://www.independent.com/news/2006/aug/17/opinions-3/
>
> This is the post of Gottlieb letterhttp://www.independent.com/news/2006/aug/03/letters-4/