Sunday, April 5, 2009

GR Press goes 1 for 2

I was impressed that the Press came out with a positive editorial Saturday about the new Medical Marijuana rules. Instead of trashing the decision made by Michigan voters to legalize MM, the Press took the progressive tack of how can you legalize use while procurement is still illegal?

I wrote letters to the Press's Editor and Publisher about the sad and tragic Dave Mayo situation and received well thought out responses that showed they understand the absurdity of the current laws. The idea that a respected journalist and his wife can be looking at serious jail time for growing weed is a clear example of the stupidity that has captured this issue for the last 30 years. The shooting of a Grand Valley State student in his apartment by a Sheriff's posse because maybe he was dealing pot takes the situation to its absurd extreme.

Something has got to change - and people are finally talking about it like rational adults for the first time in decades.

So the Press got one thumbs up but then gave it back on Sunday with a classic West Michigan union-bashing piece of crap editorial about the pending EFCA legislation. The Press ladles out the conservative argument that card check union organizing takes away the precious secret ballot and is therefore no good.

First off, its a lie. There can be a secret ballot if the employees want one. The big change is that it is the workers who get to decide, not the employers. The coercion employed by employers against union organizers over the past 20 years has been rampant and its time to level the playing field. The wretched excess of corporate executives is painfully obvious. We nee more unionization, not less, and the Press has it wrong.

1 comment:

wendy wamser said...

I was very upset when I saw the article "Matador, 16, kills 6 bulls" in the world section of the paper. Here you are, glorifying this horrible, barbaric spectacle when most people are trying to get this practice eliminated. Bull fighting is a disgusting practice of animal torture & matadors are nothing more than killers who torture the bulls before finally putting them out of their misery. And trophy ears!! How lucky for him. Let's show compassion for animals by not printing articles that glorify animal abuse. The majority of people around the world would like to put an end to bull fighting, so help by not printing articles like this.