Filed Under: I’ll Bet This Burning Question Has Kept You Awake Also…

Reporting from Seattle —

When coal is mined in Montana, shipped out of Washington state and ultimately burned in China, who is responsible for the greenhouse gases?

That is the latest question challenging Washington state officials as they review plans for the first major coal export facility on the U.S. West Coast.”

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-coal-terminal-20110107,0,5519697.story?track=latiphoneapp

Filed Under: We Really Need to Act More Like the Europeans…Oh, We Have!… DEBT!

(Headline) Portugal’s debt worries worsen as bond yields rise

(AP) – 6 hours ago

“LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal’s bond yields rose to euro-era record highs on Friday, driven by market fears about the debt-laden country’s economic health and wider concerns about the eurozone’s financial stability.

Investors are worried the government won’t be able to meet its debt obligations and may need a bailout like those provided to Greece and Ireland last year.”

NPR Problems Continue

I see that the woman who fired Juan Williams from NPR because he appeared on FOX, has resigned.

In another news item, President Obama has granted an exclusive interview to Bill O’Reilly at FOX as the president moves to the right, further, faster.

And, I wonder if the two news items are at least tangentially related.

Filed Under: I guess the rich can afford the tickets…

“MY WIFE and I have season tickets for events at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. At intermissions, we sometimes watch absently as three or four men in gray suits emerge from the wings to move a piano into place or bring out extra music stands and chairs.

What they do is essential but unremarkable. Turns out that it is remarkably well-paid, however. Would you believe $422,599 a year? Plus $107,445 in benefits and deferred compensation?
That is what a fellow named Dennis O’Connell makes at Carnegie Hall. He is the props manager, the highest-paid stagehand.”

http://www.northjersey.com/

While this is quoted from a columnist, the facts are taken from an article in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/arts/music/28hands.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=lincoln%20center%20stagehands%20Daniel%20J.%20Wakin&st=cse), which reveals that (information taken from the 2007-2008 Carnegie Hall Tax Report) that John Goodson, the head electrician earned $327,257 (with $76,459 in benefits and deferred compensation)

The NY Times article also reveals that at Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls, the AVERAGE stagehand receives a salary of $290,000. At the Met, the Prop Manager received $334,000 two seasons ago, including payoff for vacation time.

Now obviously, many of the performers at Carnegie Hall don’t make that amount. (In fact, up-and-coming musicians pay to rent the hall!) I understand that a violinist in the Carnegie orchestra gets about $100,000 and people come to hear them – they don’t care about the stagehands!

Yes, it is a union thingie… Local 1 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees…and the jobs are passed down from father to son through many generations.