Death Is a Distant Rumor to the Young: Andy Rooney is dead at 92. “I didn’t get old on purpose; it just happened. If you’re lucky, it could happen to you.”

Remember, Remember: Today is bank transfer day.

Who Needs a Stinkin’ Immigration Policy? When Governor Gregoire can order inmates to pick apples.

Greece Scrambles for Unity Government: Greek Prime Minister Papandreou is seeking to form a unity government, to show the ECB and IMF that Greece is prepared to work together to stay in the euro.

Colombian Rebel Alfonso Cano Killed in Bombing: By the Colombian government. He was positively identified by fingerprint.

Daily Karbieber Roundup: Kim Kardashian refuses to let her E! reality show cover her divorce proceedings, and this woman claims to have borne Canadian Stallion Justin Bieber’s child.

Collisions Happen in Britain, Too: 34 vehicles crashed on the northbound M5 highway, resulting in explosions, and 7 deaths and 51 injuries so far, making it the worst crash ever in Britain.

Black Bear Caught in Lakewood: After eluding capture and sustaining several tranquilizer shots.

Suspect Arrested for Alleged Serial UW Bike Theft: After convincing police that two bikes Jesse James Neel was allegedly moving both belonged to him, a check on the serial numbers the next day revealed that those bikes had been reported stolen. Both bikes were worth $1,800.

I know I’m a sap, but I can’t help but think of this song when the protests are going well.

37 replies on “The Morning News”

  2. According to a report on KPLU yesterday morning, prison labor is still twice as expensive as the current market for apple picking labor. Only farmers with very expensive products might actually use the prisoners.
    Productivity would also be lower with inexperienced workers, as well as damaged/bruised produce.

    Other than that, it’s a great idea.

  3. I think it’s slavery to make inmates work for profit farms and it is an incentive to the prison/industrial complex to corrupt the system. If you pay them what other laborers get, than o.k.

  5. @4 see 2. Prison labor would ruin the product. We need to stop enforcing our stupid immigration laws. Immigration and drug policy in this country need to change!

  6. well i think this is a good idea. i can’t tell you how many times i’ve bitten into an apple only to think, “this would be a GREAT apple if it had hepatitis”.

  7. The apple growers are paying the state $22 an hour for each picker, only a third of which goes to the prisoners doing the work. Here’s an idea: advertise this job as paying $22 an hour and see who shows up. I bet you’ll get plenty of interest.

  10. Hey, News Intern,

    Can you please indicate when you are linking to NYTimes articles? As you must realize, they are only allowing 20 free articles a month. So inadvertently clicking on a Stranger link suddenly reduces my selection number for the month. (I am referring to the British crash article.) Thanks.

  11. @8 I’m thinking that’s what somebody who picks a certain number of bushels gets. As with anything that labor intensive, you’d have to be in peak physical condition. That would rule out a lot of people. Also, when I was a child, my relatives liked to go apple picking and I think three or four sustained serious injuries from falling.

  12. 8 for the win!

    No matter, an automated apple picker/harvester is in the works that will displace some of that labor (I’ll find the link, again, the radio reports news).

  13. Oh god, now Andy Rooney is going to start complaining about death. “Why are coffins so uncomfortable? This thing is hard as a rock, and how are you supposed to breathe in here? Maybe I should have been buried in my bed.”

    I do love that song. I recommend Leela James’s version; I just can’t seem to find any recordings of it on YouTube that aren’t just someone with a cell phone at a concert.

  15. Wait a minute….. I thought country folk were all neighborly and hard-working and self-reliant. Neighbor helping neighbor, barn raisings and quiltings bees and Grange dances. Wouldn’t you think these folks could take care of their own problems? Why aren’t they closing down the insurance offices and beauty parlors and stores for a few days and all pitching in?

    What about the children who are supposedly benefiting from wholesome country living and old-fashioned values? How about the church groups?

    Why do the people of central Washington so reliant on the government? Can’t they pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Seattle’s never come to them to ask for anything.

  18. @4 Check yr Constitutional exceptions. It is slavery, but America’s okay with that.

    13th Amendment:
    Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

  21. @11: the link is to the Telegraph (UK). Maybe the Olde Englishe “T” fooled you? Also, in most browsers if you hover the cursor over a link, the URL appears in the “status bar” at the bottom of the browser window. If your status bar is collapsed, look in the View menu to make it visible. Also also, if you’re making tick marks to keep track of NYTimes articles you view each month, you’re working too hard.

    And @17 is dead right to highlight the complete hypocrisy of the reactionaries.

  22. @8, you’re joking. If they offered $22 an hour, they’d get their apples picked all right, because every migrant farm worker in the country would be here within hours. White American citizens, however, will not pick apples, or anything else, for that price, or any other. The labor is just too hard, they’re no good at it (it’s a skill, to meet any kind of a normal quota), and the hours are too long.

  24. @11, 23: It’s a little ethically questionable, but if you want to completely avoid the NYT article quota with no consequence or fee, just look for the segment of the URL that reads “&gwh” and delete everything from the ampersand on right and refresh. The prompt asking you to subscribe will disappear.

    In addition, any links taken from Facebook, Twitter, Google, or a blog beyond the 20th article won’t count.

  27. @24. My Dad was a Boeing machinist, and he and a co-worker would drive over to Eastern Washington to pick apples during prolonged strikes. He was white and I’m sure he was doing it for a fraction of $22 per hour.

  28. Hey did Slog see SouthPark ream OWS?

    it was awesome….

    don’t you Liberals luuuuuuv SouthPark?

    did you all miss it?

    or is it not that funny when they are toasting YOUR fat ass…..

  29. How is it that this year’s apple crop is going to rot on the trees for lack of enough people to harvest them, yet you still have 30 unemployed’ OWS people ‘ in Seattle parks?

  30. And I see that the Washington Court of Appeals held that Seattle’s ban on guns in parks is unconstitutional. Why didn’t Slog tell me this?

  31. So, how is an unemployed person living in Seattle supposed to travel to someplace that is hiring people to pick apples? If you don’t have a car I assume that public transit goes out that far? If so which bus routes can people take?

  34. Plenty of white folks picking apples up here in Maine. Potatoes, too. Pretty sure Woody Guthrie talked a lot about white folks picking fruit all across America. Maybe you guys just don’t know the right white people. (Or maybe it’s just hip to make racist statements about white people. But sloggers aren’t racist, are they?)

  36. @8, 24, etc. My understanding from the NPR story was that the prison got $22/hr per inmate, and the inmates got minimum wage. The rest went to the prison for administration of the program. Also, only one farm took them up on the offer because that rate was so expensive.

Comments are closed.