Essay 993

Midweek madness in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• RadioShack fired 400 employees via email on Tuesday. The message included, “The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated.” You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers — which will be sent electronically.

• The Rev. Calvin O. Butts III led a protest outside CBS headquarters in New York to complain about the decision to segregate contestants by race in the upcoming season of “Survivor.” Butts remarked, “I thought the writers and producers and executives of CBS are more intelligent and more creative than to have to pander to the worst in human nature.” The man clearly has not watched CBS sitcom “Three and a Half Men.”

• Andrew Young and Wal-Mart are facing a $7.5 million lawsuit for derogatory remarks Young made a few weeks ago (see Essay 951). A Korean grocery group in California filed the lawsuit, charging Young and the mega-retailer with libel. Young probably thought, “Hmmmm. $7.5 million will buy a week’s worth of groceries from a typical Korean convenience store.”

• The Wall Street Journal reported on a survey showing many Hurricane Katrina survivors have suffered a heavy psychological toll. According to the story, “Signs of distress ranged from frequent nightmares and irritability to debilitating anxiety and phobias.” Meanwhile, members of the Bush administration continue to sleep like babies.