Sunday, January 04, 2009

You're likable enough, gay people

From NYT:
December 28, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
You’re Likable Enough, Gay People
By FRANK RICH
IN his first press conference after his re-election in 2004, President Bush memorably declared, “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” We all know how that turned out.

Barack Obama has little in common with George W. Bush, thank God, his obsessive workouts and message control notwithstanding. At a time when very few Americans feel very good about very much, Obama is generating huge hopes even before he takes office. So much so that his name and face, affixed to any product, may be the last commodity left in the marketplace that can still move Americans to shop.

I share these high hopes. But for the first time a faint tinge of Bush crept into my Obama reveries this month.

As we saw during primary season, our president-elect is not free of his own brand of hubris and arrogance, and sometimes it comes before a fall: “You’re likable enough, Hillary” was the prelude to his defeat in New Hampshire. He has hit this same note again by assigning the invocation at his inauguration to the Rev. Rick Warren, the Orange County, Calif., megachurch preacher who has likened committed gay relationships to incest, polygamy and “an older guy marrying a child.” Bestowing this honor on Warren was a conscious — and glib — decision by Obama to spend political capital. It was made with the certitude that a leader with a mandate can do no wrong.

In this case, the capital spent is small change. Most Americans who have an opinion about Warren like him and his best-selling self-help tome, “The Purpose Driven Life.” His good deeds are plentiful on issues like human suffering in Africa, poverty and climate change. He is opposed to same-sex marriage, but so is almost every top-tier national politician, including Obama. Unlike such family-values ayatollahs as James Dobson and Tony Perkins, Warren is not obsessed with homosexuality and abortion. He was vociferously attacked by the Phyllis Schlafly gang when he invited Obama to speak about AIDS at his Saddleback Church two years ago.

There’s no reason why Obama shouldn’t return the favor by inviting him to Washington. But there’s a difference between including Warren among the cacophony of voices weighing in on policy and anointing him as the inaugural’s de facto pope. You can’t blame V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and an early Obama booster, for feeling as if he’d been slapped in the face. “I’m all for Rick Warren being at the table,” he told The Times, but “we’re talking about putting someone up front and center at what will be the most-watched inauguration in history, and asking his blessing on the nation. And the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.”

Warren, whose ego is no less than Obama’s, likes to advertise his “commitment to model civility in America.” But as Rachel Maddow of MSNBC reminded her audience, “comparing gay relationships to child abuse” is a “strange model of civility.” Less strange but equally hard to take is Warren’s defensive insistence that some of his best friends are the gays: His boasts of having “eaten dinner in gay homes” and loving Melissa Etheridge records will not protect any gay families’ civil rights.

Equally lame is the argument mounted by an Obama spokeswoman, Linda Douglass, who talks of how Warren has fought for “people who have H.I.V./AIDS.” Shouldn’t that be the default position of any religious leader? Fighting AIDS is not a get-out-of-homophobia-free card. That Bush finally joined Bono in doing the right thing about AIDS in Africa does not mitigate the gay-baiting of his 2004 campaign, let alone his silence and utter inaction when the epidemic was killing Texans by the thousands, many of them gay men, during his term as governor.

Unlike Bush, Obama has been the vocal advocate of gay civil rights he claims to be. It is over the top to assert, as a gay writer at Time did, that the president-elect is “a very tolerant, very rational-sounding sort of bigot.” Much more to the point is the astute criticism leveled by the gay Democratic congressman Barney Frank, who, in dissenting from the Warren choice, said of Obama, “I think he overestimates his ability to get people to put aside fundamental differences.” That’s a polite way of describing the Obama cockiness. It will take more than the force of the new president’s personality and eloquence to turn our nation into the United States of America he and we all want it to be.

Obama may not only overestimate his ability to bridge some of our fundamental differences but also underestimate how persistent some of those differences are. The exhilaration of his decisive election victory and the deserved applause that has greeted his mostly glitch-free transition can’t entirely mask the tensions underneath. Before there is profound social change, there is always high anxiety.

The success of Proposition 8 in California was a serious shock to gay Americans and to all the rest of us who believe that all marriages should be equal under the law. The roles played by African-Americans (who voted 70 percent in favor of Proposition 8) and by white Mormons (who were accused of bankrolling the anti-same-sex-marriage campaign) only added to the morning-after recriminations. And that was in blue California. In Arkansas, voters went so far as to approve a measure forbidding gay couples to adopt.

There is comparable anger and fear on the right. David Brody, a political correspondent with the Christian Broadcasting Network, was flooded with e-mails from religious conservatives chastising Warren for accepting the invitation to the inaugural. They vilified Obama as “pro-death” and worse because of his support for abortion rights.

Stoking this rage, no doubt, is the dawning realization that the old religious right is crumbling — in part because Warren’s new generation of leaders departs from the Falwell-Robertson brand of zealots who have had a stranglehold on the G.O.P. It’s a sign of the old establishment’s panic that the Rev. Richard Cizik, known for his leadership in addressing global warming, was pushed out of his executive post at the National Association of Evangelicals this month. Cizik’s sin was to tell Terry Gross of NPR that he was starting to shift in favor of civil unions for gay couples.

Cizik’s ouster won’t halt the new wave he represents. As he also told Gross, young evangelicals care less and less about the old wedge issues and aren’t as likely to base their votes on them. On gay rights in particular, polls show that young evangelicals are moving in Cizik’s (and the country’s) direction and away from what John McCain once rightly called “the agents of intolerance.” It’s not a coincidence that Dobson’s Focus on the Family, which spent more than $500,000 promoting Proposition 8, has now had to lay off 20 percent of its work force in Colorado Springs.

But we’re not there yet. Warren’s defamation of gay people illustrates why, as does our president-elect’s rationalization of it. When Obama defends Warren’s words by calling them an example of the “wide range of viewpoints” in a “diverse and noisy and opinionated” America, he is being too cute by half. He knows full well that a “viewpoint” defaming any minority group by linking it to sexual crimes like pedophilia is unacceptable.

It is even more toxic in a year when that group has been marginalized and stripped of its rights by ballot initiatives fomenting precisely such fears. “You’ve got to give them hope” was the refrain of the pioneering 1970s gay politician Harvey Milk, so stunningly brought back to life by Sean Penn on screen this winter. Milk reminds us that hope has to mean action, not just words.

By the historical standards of presidential hubris, Obama’s disingenuous defense of his tone-deaf invitation to Warren is nonetheless a relatively tiny infraction. It’s no Bay of Pigs. But it does add an asterisk to the joyous inaugural of our first black president. It’s bizarre that Obama, of all people, would allow himself to be on the wrong side of this history.

Since he’s not about to rescind the invitation, what happens next? For perspective, I asked Timothy McCarthy, a historian who teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an unabashed Obama enthusiast who served on his campaign’s National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Leadership Council. He responded via e-mail on Christmas Eve.

After noting that Warren’s role at the inauguration is, in the end, symbolic, McCarthy concluded that “it’s now time to move from symbol to substance.” This means Warren should “recant his previous statements about gays and lesbians, and start acting like a Christian.”

McCarthy added that it’s also time “for President-elect Obama to start acting on the promises he made to the LGBT community during his campaign so that he doesn’t go down in history as another Bill Clinton, a sweet-talking swindler who would throw us under the bus for the sake of political expediency.” And “for LGBT folks to choose their battles wisely, to judge Obama on the content of his policy-making, not on the character of his ministers.”

Amen. Here’s to humility and equanimity everywhere in America, starting at the top, as we negotiate the fierce rapids of change awaiting us in the New Year.

Prop 8: The Musical

Friday, January 02, 2009

Washington Avenue Renaissance Hotel's Finances Deteriorate

From Stltoday.com on December 19, 2008:
The Renaissance Hotel is experiencing even worse financial results than officials projected a month ago, general manager Robert Bray told bondholders recently. His comments are contained in a disclosure document filed this week by UMB Bank, the hotel’s bond trustee.

The hotel notified bondholders earlier that it wouldn’t be able to make an interest payment that was due Dec. 15. In fact, it is only paying $500,000 of the $3.5 million in interest that was due. Bray’s note says that the shortfall grew by $160,000 since November “as we saw group conference attendance deterioration and cancellations account for a decline of more than 1,300 room nights.”

Other gloomy numbers: The hotel will fall $2.6 million short of being able to make its June interest payment, which also is $3.5 million. That projection is $200,000 worse than what hotel officials reported a month ago. The Renaissance now expects occupancy to be 58.7 percent next year, down from the 60 percent figure in its earlier budget. And a capital fund for replacing furniture, fixtures and equipment is $9 million short of where it should be.

In other news from the filing, Steven Stogel is once again involved as an intermediary trying to find a permanent solution to the hotel’s financial problems. The St. Louis developer helped structure the original financing, and he worked on a restructuring for more than two years before bowing out this summer. At the time, it looked like the hotel’s developer, Historic Restoration Inc., was going to take full ownership and bring in new capital. Then the credit crunch and the worsening economy pushed the hotel to where it is now, in default.

St. Louis burned by corporate takeovers; sale of A-B, mergers and layoffs hurt city

From Belleville.com on January 2, 2009:
Over the last decade or so, St. Louis has seen the loss of many major corporate headquarters to buyouts and mergers -- McDonnell Douglas, TWA, May Department Stores Co., A.G. Edwards, Pulitzer Publishing.
But none stung as bad as 2008. Budweiser is now in Belgian hands.
The $52 billion sale of iconic St. Louis brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. to InBev SA highlighted what was an overall difficult year for business in Missouri. InBev agreed to make St. Louis its North American headquarters, but the merger has already taken a toll -- 1,400 Anheuser-Busch workers, about 1,000 of them in St. Louis, saw their jobs eliminated 2 1/2 weeks before Christmas.
The merger makes Anheuser-Busch InBev the world's largest beer-maker. The Brussels-based company promised to continue Anheuser-Busch's long tradition of community involvement and corporate giving. Budweiser, Bud Light and other beers still pour from taps around the city. The Cardinals still play at the ballpark known as Busch Stadium.
But it just isn't the same in St. Louis.
The job cuts at Anheuser-Busch were part of an effort to streamline costs and eliminate duplication of post-merger jobs. The company said the job losses will help it save at least $1.5 billion a year by 2011 and cope with a "challenging economy."
Around the state, many firms are dealing with similar challenges.
The state's unemployment rate reached 6.5 percent. In suburban St. Louis, Chrysler shut down one of its two plants, citing decreasing sales of minivans. The plant employed 3,000 people in 2007. Now, it employs about 100.
The auto industry cuts have rippled through suppliers and other businesses. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said 225,000 jobs in Missouri alone are connected to the auto industry.
Anheuser-Busch-InBev wasn't the only company cutting jobs in the weeks before Christmas. St. Louis-based Furniture Brands International Inc. said it would eliminate 1,400 jobs, or 15 percent of its work force. Another St. Louis company, electronics component maker Belden Inc., announced 1,800 job cuts worldwide, or 20 percent of its total, citing softening demand.
Jobs were being slashed at places where layoffs are infrequent. In January 20008, H&R Block Inc. announced plans to eliminate more than 500 corporate positions, most of them at its headquarters in Kansas City. In October, the nation's largest car rental company, St. Louis-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car, laid off 200 workers, the first mass layoff ever for the 51-year-old company.
The sour economy and declining advertising revenue continued to haunt media companies. The Kansas City Star cut 120 jobs in June and 50 more in November. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch laid off 31 workers in March and 20 more in September. Layoffs also hit newspapers in Kansas City, Springfield and Joplin.
Small towns weren't immune. Tiny Clarksville in northeast Missouri, with fewer than 500 people, is taking a big hit with the loss of 180 jobs at the Holcim Inc. cement plant. In the Bootheel region, Noranda Aluminum is cutting 228 jobs by early next year at its New Madrid plant. Clothing-maker Thorngate Ltd. cut 250 jobs in Cape Girardeau.
St. Louis-based Ameristar Casinos Inc., cut its nationwide work force by 4.5 percent, including casino workers in St. Charles and Kansas City.
But there was good news for Missouri's 12 casinos. Revenue was up 9 percent overall in November compared to a year ago, despite the sluggish economy. And in November, voters passed Proposition A, ending the state's $500 loss limit. The measure also capped the number of new casinos allowed in the state and raised taxes on existing ones.
© 2007 Belleville News-Democrat and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.belleville.com

Eartha Kitt, You Will Be Missed





Somewhere over the rainbow....

Year old Illinois Smoking Ban Hurts Bars and Casinos

From Belleville.com on January 1, 2009:
By David Mercer
Walt Karstens stood inside his 74-year-old wood-frame bar in Moline counting his customers, and the empty seats he says would have been filled a year ago.

About a dozen regulars had checked in at Casey's Tavern by late afternoon on New Year's Eve, roughly half the number the 60-year-old Karstens says he could have expected before the state banned smoking in public places a year ago.

"It's terrible," Karstens said of the Smoke-Free Illinois Act, which he blames for the loss of about a fifth of his business. "It's the worst thing that could happen to a neighborhood saloon."

In the year since the new law kicked in, many bar owners say they've lost business, while casinos blame a drop in business on the ban and local governments that depend on gambling-tax revenue say they're sharing in the pain.

But the complaints aren't universal. Some bar owners say they've survived and even thrived since the ban, and organizations that pushed for it say the first year has been a success.

"I think it went exceptionally well," said Kathy Drea, the director of public policy for the American Lung Association. "We've heard from so many people that are now working in smoke-free work places and what a difference it's made in their lives. They just feel better."

Effective Jan. 1, 2008, the measure outlawed smoking in public places and within 15 feet of their exterior doors and windows. People and establishments that violate the law face fines of up to $250.

From the beginning, bars and casinos complained they would be hurt, while some prosecutors and police contended the law lacked details about how it should be enforced and how people cited for violations can appeal.

Those legal questions remain, Drea said.

The General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules has never approved rules for enforcing the law, something the American Lung Association and others hope will be addressed through a Senate bill now awaiting action.

It also isn't clear how widely the ban is being enforced.

The Illinois Department of Health received about 5,500 complaints in 2008 about smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places, spokeswoman Kelly Jakubek said. But that number doesn't include complaints filed with county health departments and local law enforcement.

For the most part, Jakubek said, smokers and the businesses they frequent seem to be following the new law.

Two Joliet bar customers fined $231 each and sentenced in November to court supervision for lighting up in a bar are believed to be among the first found to have violated the law. Another Joliet resident pleaded guilty earlier this year to smoking in a bar and paid a $235 fine, while several other Will County cases are scheduled for court next year.

What is clear is that casino business is down since the ban started. Revenue at Illinois casinos dropped 20.2 percent between November 2007 and November 2008, according to the most recent figures available from the Illinois Gaming Board.

Several factors are to blame, among them the weak economy.

"But the majority of the decrease has been as a result of the smoking ban," said Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association.

Swoik points out that casinos in Indiana, Missouri and Iowa - neighboring states where smoking is legal in casinos - saw nothing like Illinois' revenue drop, and he contends gamblers are leaving Illinois for casinos where they can smoke.

The American Lung Association's Drea disputes that. New casinos opened in those neighboring states over the past year, she said, which she believes accounts for their better fortunes.

And Illinois' sharp drop?

"Absolutely, I think it's the economy," she said. "The smoke-free law is insignificant."

Beyond the casinos, not all businesses affected by the new law say it's been a bad thing.

In Champaign, Toby Herges spent about $150,000 before the statewide ban kicked in on a heated, partially enclosed outdoor smoking area at his Tumble Inn bar, which opened in 1947.

"The whole idea was to just not lose the customers that we've had coming here for so many years," Herges said.

Instead, he said, he added customers who used to go to other bars, where they now have little choice in the winter but to stand outside in the wind and cold to light up.

It was 15 degrees and windy at Casey's in Moline on Wednesday afternoon. The deck Karstens built behind his bar doesn't do him or his smoking customers much good on a day like this, he said.

When the ban began, its backers predicted drinkers and gamblers who stayed away would be replaced by nonsmokers drawn to businesses where they could now breathe easier.

Karstens, whose great-grandfather opened Casey's during the Great Depression, says that never happened. Now, he figures he'll have to adapt by adding heat and some kind of enclosure to his deck to deal with a ban he said isn't like to go away.

"I don't think anything's going to change, not for a long time."