Robert's House of Hamsters

Somewhere between Sacramento, the Oregon border and that tingly feeling in your toes.

3.22.2006

Hi, I'm Kenny Rogers...

There's a lot of days that you just wish you could actually talk someone into doing this.

3.12.2006

Note-taking...

Since I mentioned Rules 3 and 4 of Attempted Censorship in my last post, I figured I'd post the five rules I came up with and imbellish on them later when I have time.

1) Claim an important reason. (Children trump card)
2) Create a free speech exception.
3) Turn the issue around.
4) Make those who oppose you evil.
5) Create an apocalyptic scenario. (worst common denominator)

3.11.2006

My latest hate mail...

This was a good one. But first, some background information.

I've written several stories concerning an ongoing labor dispute between Butte County and the local In Home Support Services (IHSS) workers. IHSS just came under the jurisdiction of a new union, the California United Homecare Workers (CUHW).

The county hasn't recognized them yet, saying that they're received distinctly different signitures on letters authorizing CUHW to be able to negotiate.

Well, a week or so ago, CUHW held a press conference at the county government center in Oroville. A couple of weeks prior to this, I requested from CUHW's press contact some information concerning the pay given to IHSS workers in other counties.

To be specific, I requested the 12 counties that Butte County used in a survey to determine recent pay raises for county employees. IHSS workers aren't county employees, but the county pays their salaries and are then reimbursed by the state.

Well, I got those 12 counties. But on official press information (the stuff they hand out and was reported in other local publications) only had the six highest-paying counties. The other six counties paid at least $1.50 less.

So I wrote a story with that information in it.

Didn't take long for some hate mail to show up. So, in my true sarcastic, smart-ass style, I'll respond to different points:

It's ironic that your most recent article "blaming the victims" (IHSS) appears on the same page as "State Sues Pleasant Care Corporation."


I didn't really see the irony, but OK, whatever. And if I was "blaming the victims," wouldn't I have said they didn't deserve a raise? I just provided the salaries of all 12 counties in the study, instead of just the six CUHW was passing around.

Bunch of personal information that had nothing to do with the subject of my story.


I was going to post all this (about three long paragraphs), and make you all read it, but then I decided that was just mean. It was torture enough for me trying to read through it.

Statistics I have seen in the past few years show a CNA/HHA turnover rate of over 100% per year in facilities and home health agencies. I would hope that if you ever have a sick or disabled loved one who requires care, you would try to keep them at home as long as possible, and that you would not begrudge their caregiver a living wage, as you apparently do.


Rule #3 of attempted censorship: try to turn the issue around. For not writing an article that glorifies IHSS as near sainthood and instead present basic neutral information on an issue, this somehow equates to me hating senior citizens.

I mean, if I'm going to gun for somebody, I'll go after Veterans' Services. Talk about incompetence. I just disqualified myself from covering anything at a VA hospital, by the way.


You keep trying to make a big deal of the fact that the same letter, signed by two different people, was sent regarding CUHW's bargaining authority -- how unusual is it in any bureaucracy that two individuals might be authorized to sign such a letter? In any case, chances seem excellent that at least one of them (rather than none of them) would be appropriately designated.


First off, something wrong in this claim. It's not two different people that signed these letters, it was supposed to be the same person, but the county's HR department said the signitures were distinctly different. So they said they want to verify one of those signitures was authentic. Don't like that? The issues with the county, not me.

I can't imagine what investment you could possibly have in attempting to "criminalize" and demean IHSS workers


Rule #4 of attempted censorship: Say that those who oppose you are evil and want to destroy you. Frankly, It makes it easier to critize, and if you tell yourself it's true enough, it must be true, right?

Sorry, but I'm not benefitting from either side.

although a friend who is a CNA overheard the administrator at a local facility refer to the CNA staff as "trailor trash". It sounds as though that is your attitude, as well. The consistently contemptuous, derogatory, and demeaning tone of your articles is reprehensible and you should be ashamed of yourself.


See Rule #4 of attempted censorship.

By the way, what's a CNA? We're talking about IHSS. I'm a county government reporter, not a health reporter, I don't know what these abbreviations stand for.

And, as someone who was raised in a double-wide trailer and whose parents still live in said trailer, I am offended by the term "trailor(sic) trash." We prefer "Middle-class manufactured home occupants," thank you very much.

3.06.2006

Why?

Why'd they kill off Edgar?

Glory part 1.5

3.05.2006

Life goals?

3.04.2006

New milestone

This is the 250th post here on the HOH.

It will actually a steal from my good friend Mr. Jimmy Havlina or the differences between liberals and conservatives.

***

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of the redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is you friend Audrey doing?"

She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus, college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA, a leveling of the playing field."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

3.03.2006

Thanks for the kind words.

I must really send a shout-out to all these wonderful who have found my hamstercult email address since November and sent me all the valuable information on refinancing my mortgage, enlarging my penis/breasts, and opportunity to save precious Nigerian finances.

Grant Wright
Joey Rice
Andrew Hoskins
Jalyn Jamesha
Dee Andersen
Kieth Hart
Tyron Stephenson
Allison Ferris
Kelly Seymour
Dalton Coleman
Samuel Frey
Vonda Denton
Ferdinand Wilkinson
Isabella Galloway
Emerson Jennings
Cameron Dodge
Betty Branch
Kenton Cahill
Clifton Nadeau
Margarito Munson
Wilford Sadler
Russell Knutson
Jordan Hatfield
Merle Connor
Ebony Everett
Francisco Rosa
Solomon Lowry
Rick Westbrook
Rosemarie Flanigan
Odis Holley
Agnes Sheffield
Flora Fitzpatrick
Dwight Bernal
Rafael Lay
Rosemary Herndon
Debbie Wilkins
Joan Baxter
Jody Sullivan
Melisa Meyers
Elena Clemons
Nicolas Maxwell
Katherine Mays
Thaddeus Estes
Alma Patterson
Hung Thomas
Danny Mccoy
Nona Blanton
Lakeisha Cullen
Tori Savage
Carol Jones
Alec Champion
Forest Dunbar
Liam Howard
Hilary Adams
Yakuba Mussa
Adrian Roberts
Nicolas Cage
Reginald Peters
Kevin Spacey Fowler
Michael Phillips
Kodila Julien
Emanuel Hernandez
Martha West
Jennifer Hathaway
Christian Rivera
Maureen Atta
Maurice Parker
Vici Lugo
Tori Kaplan
Ingrid Kantor
Trevor Phillips
Derrick Ward
Alsheikh Rahman
Diane Bolden
Ariel Hood
Sal Thorpe
Rolland Walton
Francisco Grayson
Joesph Keen
Laverne Lynn
Millicent Frank
Charley Moreno
Casey Carlisle
Mary Honeycutt
Rodolfo Elfmore
Russ Tidwell
Deloris Goss
Kenya Bartlett
Robin Stover
Armando Steele
Merrill Hager
Myles Gibbons
Becky Daly
Drew Tatum
Jared Sparks
Ashlee Dowdy
Dr. Robert Sanchez