> Elect stupid politicians, win stupid prizes>>
The last line of the article. Says it all.
>> Elect stupid politicians, win stupid prizes>>
The last line of the article. Says it all.
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Are you sure we still live in a Constitutional Republic? Look what Californians allow their government to do to private businesses.
Grocery chain Kroger said it closed down two California stores Saturday after the Long Beach City Council approved a COVID-19-related “hero pay” ordinance that increased wages by $4 per hour.
The pay increase, mandated in January, was for workers who were employed at pharmacies and retail stores with 300 or more employees in the Southern California city.
The move was announced earlier this year, but the Ralph’s and Food 4 Less — both operated by Kroger — were shut down on April 17, employees told local media outlets.
“As a result of the City of Long Beach’s decision to pass an ordinance mandating Extra Pay for grocery workers, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close long-struggling store locations in Long Beach,” said a spokesperson for Kroger several weeks ago. “This misguided action by the Long Beach City Council oversteps the traditional bargaining process and applies to some, but not all, grocery workers in the city.”
To digress for a moment, this now-common habit of calling people “heroes” for doing their duty — a nauseating example of the bastardization of language — should be addressed. Captured in battle, my father was a prisoner of war in Germany during WWII. Yet he would’ve laughed if you’d called him a hero.
George Washington was a hero. Audie Murphy was a hero. Someone merely doing his duty in the workaday world, virtuous though that is, is not a hero.
Saying otherwise reflects the “participation trophy” phenomenon. Do we really want to linguistically equate the performance of duty — an obligation for everyone — with performance above and beyond the call of duty? And if a goodly percentage of the population now comprises “heroes,” what do we call actual heroes?
Answer: They get lumped in with not just a dutiful grocery clerk, but the stoned slacker who breaks your eggs packing your bags.
Are you sure we still live in a Constitutional Republic? Look what Californians allow their government to do to private businesses.
Grocery chain Kroger said it closed down two California stores Saturday after the Long Beach City Council approved a COVID-19-related “hero pay” ordinance that increased wages by $4 per hour.
The pay increase, mandated in January, was for workers who were employed at pharmacies and retail stores with 300 or more employees in the Southern California city.
The move was announced earlier this year, but the Ralph’s and Food 4 Less — both operated by Kroger — were shut down on April 17, employees told local media outlets.
“As a result of the City of Long Beach’s decision to pass an ordinance mandating Extra Pay for grocery workers, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close long-struggling store locations in Long Beach,” said a spokesperson for Kroger several weeks ago. “This misguided action by the Long Beach City Council oversteps the traditional bargaining process and applies to some, but not all, grocery workers in the city.”
To digress for a moment, this now-common habit of calling people “heroes” for doing their duty — a nauseating example of the bastardization of language — should be addressed. Captured in battle, my father was a prisoner of war in Germany during WWII. Yet he would’ve laughed if you’d called him a hero.
George Washington was a hero. Audie Murphy was a hero. Someone merely doing his duty in the workaday world, virtuous though that is, is not a hero.
Saying otherwise reflects the “participation trophy” phenomenon. Do we really want to linguistically equate the performance of duty — an obligation for everyone — with performance above and beyond the call of duty? And if a goodly percentage of the population now comprises “heroes,” what do we call actual heroes?
Answer: They get lumped in with not just a dutiful grocery clerk, but the stoned slacker who breaks your eggs packing your bags.
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