Morning Widdershins: Let Them Eat Deep-Dish

Posted by: chatblu on: August 11, 2012

• In: Civil Liberties | Democratic Values | Human Rights | Morning Widdershins | You Tube
• 48 Comments

Good morning, Widdershins.  I’m back from yet another computer calamity, at least for the time being.  I must say that I got quite a bit accomplished over the past few days.  My general productivity appears to vary inversely with computer access.  Oh, well.

During this enforced period of down-time, I had plenty of exposure to news channels and the Olympics – the latter being the bright spot, the former not so much.  Were it not for the pure joy of competition demonstrated by the Olympians, I would begin to think that our current state of affairs is absolutely irredeemable,

I’ve watched hour upon hour of news coverage of our latest mass murder, this time in a Sikh community center.  This killer went out in the more usual fashion – he was shot in the abdomen by the police, and finished himself off with a single shot to the head.  Investigations are turning up some uncomfortable signs of White Power roots going back to when he was on active duty.  I worry what looking further into the matter of active duty military participation in WP groups might take us.  Supposedly, background checks are initiated on any military member who can access classified materials, but I’m uncertain how deeply into the ranks this practice would fall.

The following day, a mosque in Joplin, Missouri burned to the ground.  The long-delayed Islamic Center of Murfreesboro will open this week, with extra police and security.

What brought us to this point?  Honestly, I have to believe that five solid years of “the Moslems are coming, the Moslems are coming” likely had a lot to do with this. Three and a half years of whisperings about the current President likely did not help, either.  Yes, there is residual jingoism present even today, but the ongoing meme of “we’ll fight ‘em over there so we don;t have to fight ‘em over here” really set the stage for an ugly scenario.   Sadly, layer upon layer of callousness has been building for the last decade.

Not all of the aforementioned callousness is directed at those perceived to be different.  Witness the statement of John “PapaJohn” Shnatter with regard to the crushing cost of not  providing health benefits for his employees.  Why, he reckons that there could easily be an extra fourteen cents added to each and every tasty pie in order to cover these costs.  From Politico:

Pizza chain Papa John’s told shareholders that President Obama’s health care law will cost consumers more on their pizza.

On a conference call last week, CEO and founder John Schnatter (a Mitt Romney supporter and fundraiser) said the health care law’s changes — set to go into effect in 2014 — will result in higher costs for the company — which they vowed to pass onto consumers.

“Our best estimate is that the Obamacare will cost 11 to 14 cents per pizza, or 15 to 20 cents per order from a corporate basis,” Schnatter said.

“We’re not supportive of Obamacare, like most businesses in our industry. But our business model and unit economics are about as ideal as you can get for a food company to absorb Obamacare,” he said.

“If Obamacare is in fact not repealed, we will find tactics to shallow out any Obamacare costs and core strategies to pass that cost onto consumers in order to protect our shareholders best interests,” Schnatter vowed.

Now, if I read that right, “Papa” John is in a snit because it will cost him some money to not offer health care to his employees.  Rather than see his stockholders discomfited, “Papa” is more than willing to see you and I pick up the cost.  Now, I would not mind one bit paying an increase that provided health insurance for his employees, but it galls me to no end to pay more so that he can continue to shirk.  Up with that, I will not put.

Widdershins, we probably cannot do much to stop mass murderers.  We are going to have a rough time changing hearts and minds about Moslems, Sikhs, etc.  One thing we can sink our teeth into is Papa John, and do our best to take a big ol’ bite out of his profits.  From this day forward, I will order my pies from any other pizzaria in the whole world, and I have called every Papa John’s in my area and advised the of this decision.  I will pass along the address and telephone number for Papa John’s corporate headquarters:

Papa John’s

2002 Papa John’s Boulevard

Louisville, Kentucky 40299

Telephone: 502-261-7272

I invite you to join me in notifying Papa John’s that you have ordered your last special from him.

This is an open thread.

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Tags: Papa John's, Religion