Bullshit Artist O'Shea Pretends To Be Timesman.
Every time the Tribune Co. fulfills a new part of its plan to downsize the Los Angeles Times and mistreat Los Angeles readers, we can count on James O'Shea, the traitorous Times editor and Chicago toady, to issue a statement saying he hopes so much for a great future for the Times.
But unfortunately, O'Shea has no more credibility than Pierre Laval had when he claimed to be defending French interests in World War II, while kowtowing to the Nazis. Laval was executed by the Gaullist administration after the war.
Need anyone be reminded that while John Carroll, Dean Baquet, John Puerner and Jeffrey Johnson all stood up and put their Times jobs on the line rather than bow to Tribune cost cutting and layoffs, O'Shea, and the despicable David Hiller, publisher, put up no resistance whatsoever to the latest Tribune depredations? When the Tribune CEO, the equally despicable Dennis FitzSimons told them to jump, they jumped with such alacrity that all their respectability vanished.
Now, O'Shea says Tribune has accepted 57 Times buyouts, of which, he asserts, only "a very small number" were involuntary. But he gives no exact numbers, and my understanding is that many of the buyouts were at least "encouraged" by management. When a person falls from the Empire State building, maybe he jumped voluntarily, but we have to assume that in many cases, it was not completely voluntarily.
The O'Shea buyout statement also says that the Times poll is being "reevaluated." This can only mean that the poll, once a proud adjunct to the Times, will be further pared in frequency and quality, which has happened already.
This is like TV Guide, which was cut and cut until finally, one day recently, it was cut out altogether, with the promises for better regular daily TV listings not kept.
O'Shea also says the Times Web site is being improved. So far, not much. The Web site continues to trail way behind the New York Times. In cases where I've looked for something lately, it either hasn't been there, or has hardly been there. And the Times Web site seems to take longer to come to the screen than the New York Times Web.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that I've kept an internal category on my blog entitled "O'Shea Crap" and that since he replaced the fired Baquet, he's appeared in that category five times.
I was told not long ago that O'Shea had appeared at a Los Angeles dinner honoring the Times' outstanding Sacramento columnist, George Skelton, and that he tried to appear convivial.
Again, I'd make the comparison to Laval. Laval tried to appear convivial too, as his Vichy regime shipped the Jews to the death camps. Now, the convivial O'Shea has presided over an unjust and counterproductive buyout. Laval and O'Shea are two of my least favorite characters.
O'Shea in his statement also says there will be new hires to replace some of those lost in the buyout. This is another way of saying that lower-paid people will be brought in to replace the higher-salaried people bought out. This is American business at its most dishonorable: ruining careers of people who had worked for years to attain a decent salary and respectable positions. In The Divine Comedy, Dante reserved a circle in Hell for people who behaved as O'Shea, Hiller and their Tribune overlords have here. I think they were made to suffer forever, while Satan plunged red-hot forks into their bellies.
It still must be explained, today, just why Al Martinez, the ousted Times columnist, had his e-mail blanked out in just one day, more than a week before his scheduled last column. Or is that column June 1 still scheduled?
Meanwhile, O'Shea's statements to the staff just add insult to injury. When will this jerk return to Chicago?
--
Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stamped themselves more clearly than before as McGovernites when they voted yesterday against the Iraq war funding bill in the Senate, two of only 14 Democrats to do so. If either should win the Democratic nomination, the voters ought to remember what their support of the troops meant. Will they want to elect a president who will stand up to the nation's enemies, or surrender to them?
Meanwhile, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein did vote for war funding, but the state's other senator, Barbra Boxer, did not. That too should be remembered when Boxer stands for reelection inext time, perhaps against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But unfortunately, O'Shea has no more credibility than Pierre Laval had when he claimed to be defending French interests in World War II, while kowtowing to the Nazis. Laval was executed by the Gaullist administration after the war.
Need anyone be reminded that while John Carroll, Dean Baquet, John Puerner and Jeffrey Johnson all stood up and put their Times jobs on the line rather than bow to Tribune cost cutting and layoffs, O'Shea, and the despicable David Hiller, publisher, put up no resistance whatsoever to the latest Tribune depredations? When the Tribune CEO, the equally despicable Dennis FitzSimons told them to jump, they jumped with such alacrity that all their respectability vanished.
Now, O'Shea says Tribune has accepted 57 Times buyouts, of which, he asserts, only "a very small number" were involuntary. But he gives no exact numbers, and my understanding is that many of the buyouts were at least "encouraged" by management. When a person falls from the Empire State building, maybe he jumped voluntarily, but we have to assume that in many cases, it was not completely voluntarily.
The O'Shea buyout statement also says that the Times poll is being "reevaluated." This can only mean that the poll, once a proud adjunct to the Times, will be further pared in frequency and quality, which has happened already.
This is like TV Guide, which was cut and cut until finally, one day recently, it was cut out altogether, with the promises for better regular daily TV listings not kept.
O'Shea also says the Times Web site is being improved. So far, not much. The Web site continues to trail way behind the New York Times. In cases where I've looked for something lately, it either hasn't been there, or has hardly been there. And the Times Web site seems to take longer to come to the screen than the New York Times Web.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that I've kept an internal category on my blog entitled "O'Shea Crap" and that since he replaced the fired Baquet, he's appeared in that category five times.
I was told not long ago that O'Shea had appeared at a Los Angeles dinner honoring the Times' outstanding Sacramento columnist, George Skelton, and that he tried to appear convivial.
Again, I'd make the comparison to Laval. Laval tried to appear convivial too, as his Vichy regime shipped the Jews to the death camps. Now, the convivial O'Shea has presided over an unjust and counterproductive buyout. Laval and O'Shea are two of my least favorite characters.
O'Shea in his statement also says there will be new hires to replace some of those lost in the buyout. This is another way of saying that lower-paid people will be brought in to replace the higher-salaried people bought out. This is American business at its most dishonorable: ruining careers of people who had worked for years to attain a decent salary and respectable positions. In The Divine Comedy, Dante reserved a circle in Hell for people who behaved as O'Shea, Hiller and their Tribune overlords have here. I think they were made to suffer forever, while Satan plunged red-hot forks into their bellies.
It still must be explained, today, just why Al Martinez, the ousted Times columnist, had his e-mail blanked out in just one day, more than a week before his scheduled last column. Or is that column June 1 still scheduled?
Meanwhile, O'Shea's statements to the staff just add insult to injury. When will this jerk return to Chicago?
--
Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stamped themselves more clearly than before as McGovernites when they voted yesterday against the Iraq war funding bill in the Senate, two of only 14 Democrats to do so. If either should win the Democratic nomination, the voters ought to remember what their support of the troops meant. Will they want to elect a president who will stand up to the nation's enemies, or surrender to them?
Meanwhile, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein did vote for war funding, but the state's other senator, Barbra Boxer, did not. That too should be remembered when Boxer stands for reelection inext time, perhaps against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Labels: O'Shea Crap
posted by Ken Reich at 9:40 AM
1 Comments:
To compare some tedious corporate bean counter at the LA Times to a French figure who let Jews be sent to the World War II death camps is such gross hyperbole that it undercuts whatever point you are trying to make.You of all people should know there is life after being forced out of a job in the United States of America. Not everyone jumps out of a window or brings an uzi to the workplace.
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