i love the fact that the people of the world see the man who paid bush the highest insult one person can give another as a world hero .
On Dec 26, 7:24 am, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > By P.J. Gladnick (Bio | Archive) > December 25, 2008 - 18:25 ET > mewsbusters.com > > Employees of McClatchy publishing in Iraq were in an unusually good > mood recently. The occasion was the aftermath of the Iraqi journalist > who tossed his shoes at President Bush at a press conference in > Baghdad as you can see in these quotes from Inside Iraq, a blog for > McClatchy journalists working in that country. The first quote was > from McClatchy employee, "Laith," who was talking about his colleagues > and the rest of the quotes were from commentors who may or may not be > employed by McClatchy: > > Some of the guys were happy and they were talking about the bravery of > the journalist who threw his shoes at the American president. When I > tried to explain my opinion, I was trying to tell the guys that I > don't agree with the way the journalist behaved, but I was attacked by > them. One of them said "come on Laith, Bush destroyed Iraq". Another > said "he deserves more" while a third one said "he is an occupier." I > tried to tell to tell they guys that this is an inslut for Maliki. > > The "Shoe heard round the world" was an important symbolic event. I > felt his action was appropriate and restrained considering the > circumstances. > > I applauded this act. I don't care that it is rude. Why are we > concerned about etiquette when a country was destroyed? Did Bush ever > apologize to the Iraqis for the hundreds of thousands of dead? Bush is > an occupier, a clown pretending to be a hero, so enclosed in his own > little self-certain world he probably was surprised an Iraqi could be > that angry. I am not surprised. I am only surprised such a thing did > not happen earlier. > > Yes, yes, my little McClatchy journalists. Better get all the > enjoyment you can out of the shoe tossing incident because soon there > will be another tossing event that you will not appreciate quite so > much: namely being tossed out of your jobs. While you are busy > cheering on the shoe tosser, perhaps you might not have noticed that > the McClatchy stock price has plunged about 99% to a mere 75 cents > per share from where it was in 2005 at almost $80 per share when your > CEO, Gary Pruitt (photo), began going on a spending spree buying up > newspapers when it was already clear to almost any sane person that > print media was in a permanent downswing due to the internet. Pruitt's > purchase of newspapers around the country goes down in the history of > stupid business decisions with Quaker Oats' purchase of Snapple and > Schlitz beer's decision to cut costs by changing its fermentation > process (along with its taste). > > The result is that McClatchy is in the process of attempting to get > rid of many of its newspapers at much less than Pruitt paid for them > including the Miami Herald which still has no buyers interested in > purchasing that losing enterprise. In fact, Pruitt's Folly has gotten > so bad that in his own words he is having trouble finding a buyer just > for the Herald parking lot: > > We’re selling 10 acres of land, a parking lot adjacent to The Miami > Herald building for a price of $190 million. We have a good dialogue > with the sellers and we’re hopeful that that deal closes. It’s a real > estate contract which means we can’t guarantee that that deal will > close. We’re hopeful that it will and 100% of the proceeds, which > after tax would be about $115 million, will be used to pay down debt. > > Gary Pruitt isn't alone in his total cluelessness. As we have seen in > these pages, Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger, publisher of the New York > Times, is every bit as capable of making incredibly stupid business > decisions as Pruitt. However, at least Pinch has the excuse of being > born with the correct family name and living through birth for being > given a task he can't handle. What's your excuse, Gary? > > The most astonishing thing about Gary Pruitt is that he is still CEO > of McClatchy. What more bad news do the stockholders need to fire > him? For every thousand dollars of stock purchased in 2005, they are > now left with a mere ten bucks of value...and perhaps even less in the > very near future. And yet Pruitt remains at the helm. Another > mysterious thing about Pruitt is why he has not quit McClatchy. > Perhaps the salary, bonuses for underachievement, and the fringe > benefits such as being able to charge off expensive hotel stays and > dining on Kobe beef is much too alluring and overwhelms any shame > Pruitt might feel by continuing to lead a publishing company he has > run into the ground. > > Since this is Christmas Day, here is my fantasy speech that Gary > Pruitt should deliver if he ever feels the slightest bit of remorse > for tossing McClatchy into the ash heap: > > "Hi. I'm Gary Pruitt, CEO of McClatchy. Today I want to give you a > frank talk about our company without any unrealistic Baghdad Bob type > happy talk. The bottom line is that I have run our company into the > ground over the last three years as a result of incredibly dumb > business decisions. I began buying up newspapers in 2005 when it was > already obvious even to an infant that they were losing circulation > rapidly due to the internet. What the hell was I thinking? The only > answer is that I wasn't thinking. I should have left this company in > disgrace years ago but hung on just so I could collect on all the CEO > goodies. However, I now realize that I have overstayed my welcome and > am announcing my resignation from McClatchy. So shamed am I by losing > billions of dollars and thousands of jobs that I have decided to go > into permanent exile with my surfboard off the coast of Satellite > Beach. Finally I would like to thank ol' PJ for making me aware of why > my resignation is so necessary. As a result, my last official act as > McClatchy CEO will be to send him a large doggie bag stuffed with Kobe > beef." > > Of course, I realize such a speech is strictly a fantasy. Oh, except > for the Kobie beef doggie bag part. That I definitely want Pruitt to > deliver on. > > Meanwhile, to all you McClatchy "journalists" cheering on the Iraqi > shoe tosser... enjoy your good mood for now. It won't be lasting long. > > And don't forget that Kobe beef, Gary. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
