Sometime earlier in the year, when listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on NPR I began to notice an infectious, wonderful laugh in the background of many episodes. Finally I deduced that the laugh belonged to Charlie Pierce. Was that the same guy who'd written "Idiot America", a book I had mostly enjoyed? Somewhere along the line, I think on one of Pierce's appearances on another NPR program, "It's Only a Game", I learned that Charlie writes "The Politics Blog" for Esquire magazine.
It is in that pursuit where Pierce's genius shines brightest for me. I don't know how he does it, but he generally writes much more than I can read. And most every post makes insightful, humane, and humorous comments of depth and breadth which are a joy to read. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Last week, Pierce made one of the most touching points about the tragic shootings in Connecticut, as he wrote, "There's also little doubt that the primary heroes of the day were schoolteachers — public school teachers — who hid children in closets and saved their lives, and who evacuated the children, leading them out through what had become a killing field in preposterously good order in what were the last hours of their childhoods, as one of the teachers said, with devastating accuracy, to a local TV station." (emphasis added)
I don't know if Pulitzer Prizes are awarded for writing on blogs, but if such a category exists, no one more than Charlie Pierce would be a worthier recipient.
Linked below is another gem. As I look at this for proofreading, I did not include the link on the Connecticut shooting, it must be some sort of device of Pierce's blog to insert and ensure attribution . The one I intended is the one labled, "Out on the Weekend."
Read more: Connecticut Shooting And We The People - The Horror Goes On - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/connecticut-shooting-and-we-the-people-121412#ixzz2Fn8H5LVr
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/out-on-the-weekend-12212012
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Sad Days, Yet Again
Today the better angels of our nature must have wept. Certainly tears were spilled for the tragic loss of life among the victims of the gun madness in Connecticut. But because these are our "better angels", they must have also shed tears for the loss of a certain number of grains of hope in our nation.
Who can catalog the number of wanton sprees of violence loosed against our citizens in a given span of time? Since Columbine? Since the Colorado movie house shooting? Since Virginia Tech? Since Standard Gravure in Louisville?
In a few countries, which we would not likely group as our international peers, such as El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica, and Swaziland, guns kill more people per capita than in the U.S. But in those countries with which we most choose to compare ourselves, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, among many others, citizens shooting and killing citizens is a relative rarity.
To what do we owe this bloody distinction? Is it in our DNA? Or, more truthfully, is it in our NRA?
The United States is a nation, working toward a civilization, floating on a sea of compromise. Interest groups, historically at least, have had to settle for the truism of, "a half a loaf beats no bread at all." This basic tenet of governance seems to have eluded the National Rifle Association. This group of venal lobbyers, ostensibly speaking for its general membership, is committed to drawing lines, big, bold, indelible, lines in the sand of our national debate on guns. Politicians who dare step over those lines may feel the sting of the NRA whip, which could come in the form of a Teabagger primary challenger, or perhaps worse, the withdrawal of campaign largess. Toadying politicians at the state, local, and federal, level have bent over to accommodate the blued, barrel of logic brandished and thrusted by the NRA. Just a couple years back, local state representatives and state senators voted for the absurd proposition that gun regulation could not be permitted at the local level, thus allowing firearms to be legally borne into any public structure other than a courthouse. Today Indiana lives under that law. Thanks legislators, at least we can duck behind the stacks to dodge the lead when visiting a library.
After the Colorado movie house shooting it was common to hear, in the wake of that event, that it was not the time to discuss gun control. In all likelihood, those same slanted voices would offer the same twisted logic in the wake of this tragedy. To those voices I can only say, "shut the ---- up". This is precisely when to address the issue of senseless slaughter in a nation whose supine leaders are captive to the malevolent forces of the NRA and its radical right wing agenda. The gun lobby seeks to prevent any measure from becoming law if it would restrict guns in any way. Constant referral to the Second Amendment as permission to establish the U.S. as a free-fire zone is illogic at its worst. The most brilliant minds of the Eighteenth Century, of which it could be argued included our founding fathers, could not have conceived of firearms with the features of modern weapons, such as automatic weapons and hundred shot magazines. I believe the Second Amendment allowed for a militia to hold arms and that was that, but even if a more liberal interpretation is granted, to an Eighteenth century mind guns were muzzle loaded, cumbersome devices which would not allow a single person to go on the type of bloody rampage that's the hallmark of modern America.
So now, today, the day of the Newtown, Connecticut murders, let us reflect on how the NRA might dial back its insanity and return to a more sensible view of guns. I would say that any long gun suitable for hunting or target shooting be allowed, but the number of rounds the gun holds should be limited. Assault weapons should be prohibited. Large magazines should be prohibited in any firearm. Pistol ownership should be legal, but the ability to carry the weapon in public should be drastically curtailed and subject to sensible, limited use. Any legal firearm should carry with it the responsibility to show mental capacity and emotional stability to allow for ownership. Some form of registration should be adopted. Firearm safety instruction should be a requirement of ownership.
At the very least, the NRA should have to prove that certain types of weapons have a legitimate place in civilization. It may be fun to shoot a machine gun or an AK-47, but what is a legitimate use for those weapons? If no honest, legitimate use can be shown, the National Rifle Association needs to back away from supporting those weapons and focus its efforts on promoting the safe use of legitimate firearms. Otherwise, the NRA needs to accept that its role in creating a free-wheeling gun culture in the USA has bloodied its hands. And, perhaps after Newtown, or perhaps after the next, or the next after that incident, the NRA will find that no amount of bluff and bluster can stop the citizens of the United States from balancing out the gun lobby's radical agenda.
Who can catalog the number of wanton sprees of violence loosed against our citizens in a given span of time? Since Columbine? Since the Colorado movie house shooting? Since Virginia Tech? Since Standard Gravure in Louisville?
In a few countries, which we would not likely group as our international peers, such as El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica, and Swaziland, guns kill more people per capita than in the U.S. But in those countries with which we most choose to compare ourselves, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, among many others, citizens shooting and killing citizens is a relative rarity.
To what do we owe this bloody distinction? Is it in our DNA? Or, more truthfully, is it in our NRA?
The United States is a nation, working toward a civilization, floating on a sea of compromise. Interest groups, historically at least, have had to settle for the truism of, "a half a loaf beats no bread at all." This basic tenet of governance seems to have eluded the National Rifle Association. This group of venal lobbyers, ostensibly speaking for its general membership, is committed to drawing lines, big, bold, indelible, lines in the sand of our national debate on guns. Politicians who dare step over those lines may feel the sting of the NRA whip, which could come in the form of a Teabagger primary challenger, or perhaps worse, the withdrawal of campaign largess. Toadying politicians at the state, local, and federal, level have bent over to accommodate the blued, barrel of logic brandished and thrusted by the NRA. Just a couple years back, local state representatives and state senators voted for the absurd proposition that gun regulation could not be permitted at the local level, thus allowing firearms to be legally borne into any public structure other than a courthouse. Today Indiana lives under that law. Thanks legislators, at least we can duck behind the stacks to dodge the lead when visiting a library.
After the Colorado movie house shooting it was common to hear, in the wake of that event, that it was not the time to discuss gun control. In all likelihood, those same slanted voices would offer the same twisted logic in the wake of this tragedy. To those voices I can only say, "shut the ---- up". This is precisely when to address the issue of senseless slaughter in a nation whose supine leaders are captive to the malevolent forces of the NRA and its radical right wing agenda. The gun lobby seeks to prevent any measure from becoming law if it would restrict guns in any way. Constant referral to the Second Amendment as permission to establish the U.S. as a free-fire zone is illogic at its worst. The most brilliant minds of the Eighteenth Century, of which it could be argued included our founding fathers, could not have conceived of firearms with the features of modern weapons, such as automatic weapons and hundred shot magazines. I believe the Second Amendment allowed for a militia to hold arms and that was that, but even if a more liberal interpretation is granted, to an Eighteenth century mind guns were muzzle loaded, cumbersome devices which would not allow a single person to go on the type of bloody rampage that's the hallmark of modern America.
So now, today, the day of the Newtown, Connecticut murders, let us reflect on how the NRA might dial back its insanity and return to a more sensible view of guns. I would say that any long gun suitable for hunting or target shooting be allowed, but the number of rounds the gun holds should be limited. Assault weapons should be prohibited. Large magazines should be prohibited in any firearm. Pistol ownership should be legal, but the ability to carry the weapon in public should be drastically curtailed and subject to sensible, limited use. Any legal firearm should carry with it the responsibility to show mental capacity and emotional stability to allow for ownership. Some form of registration should be adopted. Firearm safety instruction should be a requirement of ownership.
At the very least, the NRA should have to prove that certain types of weapons have a legitimate place in civilization. It may be fun to shoot a machine gun or an AK-47, but what is a legitimate use for those weapons? If no honest, legitimate use can be shown, the National Rifle Association needs to back away from supporting those weapons and focus its efforts on promoting the safe use of legitimate firearms. Otherwise, the NRA needs to accept that its role in creating a free-wheeling gun culture in the USA has bloodied its hands. And, perhaps after Newtown, or perhaps after the next, or the next after that incident, the NRA will find that no amount of bluff and bluster can stop the citizens of the United States from balancing out the gun lobby's radical agenda.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Live Bitter For Less
"They pay low wages, then the taxpayers pick up the tab for food stamps and Medicaid. They need to take care of their people. They need to be responsible to their workers." *
Vanessa Ferreira
The way we shop today comes with a hefty price tag. Gone are the days when locally owned, independent retailers played on a level playing field. I can recall numerous independent stores that used to populate downtown New Albany. Business for those shop owners may not have been as easy as one might think in retrospect. I didn't know any of the store owners, so I can't speak from first-hand knowledge about their financial situations. I do know that they began to wither and fade away as strip shopping centers and the malls began to assert their dominance of the American way of commerce. And I know that coincident with that displacement of local retailers by national chains, several things happened: small towns across the United States became mostly hollow shells, barely resembling their former bustling pasts, American-made goods were displaced by cheaper foreign-made products, community-focus became unfocused as more and more daily tasks were undertaken not downtown or in a neighborhood store, but out the road.
The arrival of Walmart is problematic in any community. It comes as a wave to a listing boat. Now well into the third or fourth decade of big box stores, small towns are filled with under-served customers. So, as the Walmart arrives many of the up-to-that-point survivors witness the disappearance of their remaining customer base. More business goes out the road.
Walmart's dominant size affords it a domineering role in the nation's commerce. Small manufacturers are not able to satisfy the endless appetite of the chain. So, to fill the mega-retailer's shelves production is shifted to near-slave wage production mills in China. American jobs don't go out the road, but across the sea, and meaningful environmental regulation goes out the window. This becomes a cost we all (those of us who derive our breaths, and our drinking water from the common atmosphere) must bear. And why do we bear this cost? Low, low prices of course.
Ms. Ferreira's words quoted above point out that we're all Walmart now. As Sam Walton's six heirs enjoy the sweet of low prices, we enjoy the bitter of helping the chain keep those prices low. As the hyper hypnosis of hype settles in to the nation's consciousness, and we marvel at the power of Black Friday as the steroid of choice for our economy, we should heed Ms. Ferreira's assessment, "They (Walmart) need to be responsible to their workers." I would add, so we don't have to be.
Since we are all responsible for keeping the giant afloat, I say, let's unionize the crew and let, as Henry Miller might have called it, the cosmodemonic seller pay its own bills.
A responsible retailer of Walmart's heft may not be able to undue all of the ill-effects it has loosed on the country, and unionization may not be the most direct step in that direction, but at least it's a start.
And at Walmart stores around the nation on Black Friday the giant will be challenged by union organizers and protesters supporting the union cause. A responsible step we can all take is to step away from Walmart and support those who are supporting our workers at Walmart.
* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/walmart-strikes-black-friday_n_2174166.html
Vanessa Ferreira
The way we shop today comes with a hefty price tag. Gone are the days when locally owned, independent retailers played on a level playing field. I can recall numerous independent stores that used to populate downtown New Albany. Business for those shop owners may not have been as easy as one might think in retrospect. I didn't know any of the store owners, so I can't speak from first-hand knowledge about their financial situations. I do know that they began to wither and fade away as strip shopping centers and the malls began to assert their dominance of the American way of commerce. And I know that coincident with that displacement of local retailers by national chains, several things happened: small towns across the United States became mostly hollow shells, barely resembling their former bustling pasts, American-made goods were displaced by cheaper foreign-made products, community-focus became unfocused as more and more daily tasks were undertaken not downtown or in a neighborhood store, but out the road.
The arrival of Walmart is problematic in any community. It comes as a wave to a listing boat. Now well into the third or fourth decade of big box stores, small towns are filled with under-served customers. So, as the Walmart arrives many of the up-to-that-point survivors witness the disappearance of their remaining customer base. More business goes out the road.
Walmart's dominant size affords it a domineering role in the nation's commerce. Small manufacturers are not able to satisfy the endless appetite of the chain. So, to fill the mega-retailer's shelves production is shifted to near-slave wage production mills in China. American jobs don't go out the road, but across the sea, and meaningful environmental regulation goes out the window. This becomes a cost we all (those of us who derive our breaths, and our drinking water from the common atmosphere) must bear. And why do we bear this cost? Low, low prices of course.
Ms. Ferreira's words quoted above point out that we're all Walmart now. As Sam Walton's six heirs enjoy the sweet of low prices, we enjoy the bitter of helping the chain keep those prices low. As the hyper hypnosis of hype settles in to the nation's consciousness, and we marvel at the power of Black Friday as the steroid of choice for our economy, we should heed Ms. Ferreira's assessment, "They (Walmart) need to be responsible to their workers." I would add, so we don't have to be.
Since we are all responsible for keeping the giant afloat, I say, let's unionize the crew and let, as Henry Miller might have called it, the cosmodemonic seller pay its own bills.
A responsible retailer of Walmart's heft may not be able to undue all of the ill-effects it has loosed on the country, and unionization may not be the most direct step in that direction, but at least it's a start.
And at Walmart stores around the nation on Black Friday the giant will be challenged by union organizers and protesters supporting the union cause. A responsible step we can all take is to step away from Walmart and support those who are supporting our workers at Walmart.
* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/walmart-strikes-black-friday_n_2174166.html
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Am I Still Dreaming, Or Is This Karl Rove's Night Job?
Also too*, he'll probably wash that man right out of his hair.
*Permission granted by Charlie Pierce to quote the Queen of the Tundra.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Forward
We always risk making our leaders into blank canvases on which we paint our hopes. As the presidential race nears its end, I hope and I believe Barack Obama will be re-elected.
Humans have a neural reset which prevents us from feeling pain after the source of that pain has been withdrawn. The alternative would be unbearable. Emotionally, we heal from loss even though we remember, with sadness sometimes, or diminishing bitterness other times, the source of our emotional pain. Truly, time heals all wounds. And so, here we are today, some of us have turned against Obama because he didn't clean up all the mess left behind by the previous administration. Have we forgotten how close to total collapse the American, and probably the world, economy were when President Obama took office? Seven hundred thousand jobs were disappearing each month when he came into office. Today we have experienced 32 months of positive job growth. But the pain of the initial collapse of the economy is a distant memory for many of us, although painfully present for many more. It's like the house was on fire, now the panic is gone, but the formidable cleanup goes on and on. Perhaps, some of us confuse our impatience for his failure.
His progress has been stymied by the likes of the odious Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator, who famously said his number one objective was to insure that president Obama is kneecapped and made a one-term president. Forget the suffering of millions of Americans as you plot filibuster after filibuster, Senator, just ensure that your political position is protected and your paymasters are rewarded for their investments in you.
A retelling of the saga of how we got to where we are is not necessary. People have made up their minds by now. This election is in the books now, even though we have yet to get to the final page.
Instead, let's look at the blank canvas of 2012-2016.
President Obama will have in his second term an opportunity-rich environment. I hope he uses this canvas to paint a picture of America where money is not seen as speech, so we can wring the corrupting influence of money and lobbyists from our system. Then we might end the ridiculous spectacle of politicians grubbing for donations like so many hogs in a pen.
I'd like to see an America where the constitution clearly defines that a person is a person, and a corporation is a legal arrangement filed in a courthouse in Delaware. The absurd fiction that corporations are people ignores the slight advantage corporations have over humans--immortality. Unless we rein in this superiority of corporations over humans we risk undermining democracy. In the future we could see cabinet level positions for Coca Cola or Halliburton, oh that's right, we already had Halliburton in the government.
The President, in his second term, can work toward a sustainable economy where the health of the environment is not traded for trinkets in the marketplace. He can look toward
"green jobs" as the truest stimulus package, one in which we honestly assess the terrible, eroded, shameful, condition of our infrastructure and put American citizens to work in American factories and firms to rebuild American cities, roads, rails, bridges, sewer systems, electric grids, water pipe networks, parks, schools, and the list goes on and on. And, when we finish bringing these elements of the commons back up to reasonable standards we'll find that such a pursuit is the gift that keeps on giving, because we'll have to start all over again and continue the maintenance, but that will be for a later generation of Americans. As the old saw goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The miracle of the Reagan Revolution is that so many people willingly let others eat our lunch, whether outsourcing corporations, blind-eye environmental regulators, or people in the present eating the lunch of future generations. It's time to realize we get nothing for nothing. The rich have taken a tax holiday and now it's over.
In his second term the President can broaden and refine The Affordable Care Act. The best refinement would be to allow all citizens to buy into Medicare as it competes on a level playing field with commercially-offered health plans.
I hope the President's second term is a period of peace and international cooperation.
He only has four years to paint this canvas. If he paints thoughtfully, and with concern for the future of the planet, he can go down in history as a great practitioner of the art of politics.
Humans have a neural reset which prevents us from feeling pain after the source of that pain has been withdrawn. The alternative would be unbearable. Emotionally, we heal from loss even though we remember, with sadness sometimes, or diminishing bitterness other times, the source of our emotional pain. Truly, time heals all wounds. And so, here we are today, some of us have turned against Obama because he didn't clean up all the mess left behind by the previous administration. Have we forgotten how close to total collapse the American, and probably the world, economy were when President Obama took office? Seven hundred thousand jobs were disappearing each month when he came into office. Today we have experienced 32 months of positive job growth. But the pain of the initial collapse of the economy is a distant memory for many of us, although painfully present for many more. It's like the house was on fire, now the panic is gone, but the formidable cleanup goes on and on. Perhaps, some of us confuse our impatience for his failure.
His progress has been stymied by the likes of the odious Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator, who famously said his number one objective was to insure that president Obama is kneecapped and made a one-term president. Forget the suffering of millions of Americans as you plot filibuster after filibuster, Senator, just ensure that your political position is protected and your paymasters are rewarded for their investments in you.
A retelling of the saga of how we got to where we are is not necessary. People have made up their minds by now. This election is in the books now, even though we have yet to get to the final page.
Instead, let's look at the blank canvas of 2012-2016.
President Obama will have in his second term an opportunity-rich environment. I hope he uses this canvas to paint a picture of America where money is not seen as speech, so we can wring the corrupting influence of money and lobbyists from our system. Then we might end the ridiculous spectacle of politicians grubbing for donations like so many hogs in a pen.
I'd like to see an America where the constitution clearly defines that a person is a person, and a corporation is a legal arrangement filed in a courthouse in Delaware. The absurd fiction that corporations are people ignores the slight advantage corporations have over humans--immortality. Unless we rein in this superiority of corporations over humans we risk undermining democracy. In the future we could see cabinet level positions for Coca Cola or Halliburton, oh that's right, we already had Halliburton in the government.
The President, in his second term, can work toward a sustainable economy where the health of the environment is not traded for trinkets in the marketplace. He can look toward
"green jobs" as the truest stimulus package, one in which we honestly assess the terrible, eroded, shameful, condition of our infrastructure and put American citizens to work in American factories and firms to rebuild American cities, roads, rails, bridges, sewer systems, electric grids, water pipe networks, parks, schools, and the list goes on and on. And, when we finish bringing these elements of the commons back up to reasonable standards we'll find that such a pursuit is the gift that keeps on giving, because we'll have to start all over again and continue the maintenance, but that will be for a later generation of Americans. As the old saw goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The miracle of the Reagan Revolution is that so many people willingly let others eat our lunch, whether outsourcing corporations, blind-eye environmental regulators, or people in the present eating the lunch of future generations. It's time to realize we get nothing for nothing. The rich have taken a tax holiday and now it's over.
In his second term the President can broaden and refine The Affordable Care Act. The best refinement would be to allow all citizens to buy into Medicare as it competes on a level playing field with commercially-offered health plans.
I hope the President's second term is a period of peace and international cooperation.
He only has four years to paint this canvas. If he paints thoughtfully, and with concern for the future of the planet, he can go down in history as a great practitioner of the art of politics.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
How Witless The Mittness With Which He Carries On
It became apparent during the early moments of this year's first presidential debate that Willard Romney would lie like a rug to become President of the United States. Untethered from that which we recognize as the truth, Romney has floated away from those of us bound to reality. At most any fair or festival some unfortunate, or perhaps aeronautically inclined, child will lose his helium balloon, and then we see the gas bag float effortlessly away from us. It is a prisoner of the winds, tied no more to terra firma until its lighter-than-air contents fail it, and it descends inert, lifeless and tethered once again to a shrub or a fence. Reality.
Unless Romney scrambles Lincoln's assessment of fooling all of the people some of the time , into "you can fool just enough of the strategically situated people to get 270 electoral votes", he will find himself, come Wednesday, like the spent balloon, ingloriously grounded.
That fate, I hope, comes to pass for Romney.
Theoretically, he could have run his campaign differently. It is theory because quite possibly Romney is such a product of his skewed, privilege-borne, vision of America and Americans that no other words, save lies, could have come from him. And he has birthed some whoppers. His insistence that Obamacare cuts $716 billion from Medicare is untrue, but it also offers a tip of the hat in the direction of Bush II in that it also plays a fear card, so Medicare recipients can be made afraid of losing life-saving benefits. Leave aside the fact that the$716 billion in Obama's plan cuts billions of over payments to providers of Medicare services, and elimination of subsidies to Medicare Advantage providers, like Humana, for senior citizen gym memberships and the like. Leave aside also that Medicare operates its massive bureaucracy on about three percent of overhead expenses while privately provided health coverage had to be mandated, through Obamacare, to limit its overhead costs to 20%. On Romney's delusional first day in office he plans to scrap Obamacare.
When the day that will never come, comes in Romney's mind, and in the mind of his fervid followers, he will also throw out other parts of Obamacare while surgically avoiding those parts of the plan, such as allowing young people to remain on their parents' health plan until age 26, that might appeal to his targeted voters. He would dismantle the plan by eliminating the mandates of the plan. His market-driven solution to health coverage would result in millions being left out of the nation's health plan. He doesn't want health coverage for citizens, he wants an applause line at rallies, he wants a bait and switch move.
Romney attacks the president for a failed attempt at green energy through the start up company Solyndra. This company went bankrupt, and Romney said half of all the federally assisted investments in green energy went belly up. In fact, about six per cent of federally supported green start ups failed. As a principal in a vulture capital firm, Bain, Romney should know that a failure rate on start ups south of ten percent is pretty good. In this case, though, a lie works better for his purposes. The lie better appeals to his extremist right wing backers in the carbon fuel industries to whom he would cater if elected.
While abortion is, of course, an emotionally freighted topic Romney could not bring himself to put distance between himself and his support of Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock. He didn't ask to have his endorsement ad for Mourdok taken down because he didn't want to possibly risk alienating the ardent foes of abortion with a hint of moderation on the point. He further risks any appeal to women voters by failing to support equal pay rules, such as the Lilly Ledbetter law. Women are rightly sensitive about wanting equal pay for equal work, and they fear such a plight befalling their daughters.
On the issue of Medicare the Romney campaign reveals much about the candidate's view of the American populace. In Romney's view the nation is a pool of Darwinian or perhaps Randian isolates on their own journey through life with little concern of other isolates making the same journey. John Sununu made a bombastic defense of the Ryan Medicare plan by reassuring voters that the cuts/reforms to Medicare would not, " affect those age 55 or older." So there you have it, the Romney philosophy is "if you've got yours why have any concern for those who don't?" Wouldn't that mentality have worked wonders during the northeastern hurricane, Sandy?
The increasingly violent weather the world is experiencing has convinced scientists that the earth's climate is indeed changing. The northeastern hurricane was made worse by the higher sea levels. Romney's earlier reaction to the threat of global warming/climate change mouthed at the Republican convention mirrored the esteemed Limbaugh wing of scientific thought when the candidate snarkily opined that President Obama wanted to lower the level of the ocean and help heal the climatic woes. While of course that's a good laugh line among the de-intelligentsia, in the wake of hurricane Sandy, it's not quite so funny these days. And yet the avoidance of the issue of climate change was painfully obvious from both the Romney and Obama camps throughout the campaign.
Romney has disdain for nearly half of the nation as shown in the taped event where he speaks of 47% of the population as slackers and writes them off as lesser signs in the equation of our nation. Perhaps this is due to his availing himself of tax laws for which the rest of us don't qualify. Maybe that is why we can't understand that he simply wants to grease the skids for the vaunted job creators while putting in place policies to fund tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the middle class. Harry Reid charged that Romney paid no taxes for a number of years. Romney vehemently denied the fact, but recently, proof of Romney's tax-avoidance has surfaced.
The recollection of Romney's illusory truths could be a full time pursuit,and this is a pursuit no one need be worried with after early November. Fortunately for the nation, I believe enough of the electorate will see through the empty suit to realize that although Willard is a good salesman, he won't be closing this deal.
(Obama 310 or more electoral votes, or room to spare)
Unless Romney scrambles Lincoln's assessment of fooling all of the people some of the time , into "you can fool just enough of the strategically situated people to get 270 electoral votes", he will find himself, come Wednesday, like the spent balloon, ingloriously grounded.
That fate, I hope, comes to pass for Romney.
Theoretically, he could have run his campaign differently. It is theory because quite possibly Romney is such a product of his skewed, privilege-borne, vision of America and Americans that no other words, save lies, could have come from him. And he has birthed some whoppers. His insistence that Obamacare cuts $716 billion from Medicare is untrue, but it also offers a tip of the hat in the direction of Bush II in that it also plays a fear card, so Medicare recipients can be made afraid of losing life-saving benefits. Leave aside the fact that the$716 billion in Obama's plan cuts billions of over payments to providers of Medicare services, and elimination of subsidies to Medicare Advantage providers, like Humana, for senior citizen gym memberships and the like. Leave aside also that Medicare operates its massive bureaucracy on about three percent of overhead expenses while privately provided health coverage had to be mandated, through Obamacare, to limit its overhead costs to 20%. On Romney's delusional first day in office he plans to scrap Obamacare.
When the day that will never come, comes in Romney's mind, and in the mind of his fervid followers, he will also throw out other parts of Obamacare while surgically avoiding those parts of the plan, such as allowing young people to remain on their parents' health plan until age 26, that might appeal to his targeted voters. He would dismantle the plan by eliminating the mandates of the plan. His market-driven solution to health coverage would result in millions being left out of the nation's health plan. He doesn't want health coverage for citizens, he wants an applause line at rallies, he wants a bait and switch move.
Romney attacks the president for a failed attempt at green energy through the start up company Solyndra. This company went bankrupt, and Romney said half of all the federally assisted investments in green energy went belly up. In fact, about six per cent of federally supported green start ups failed. As a principal in a vulture capital firm, Bain, Romney should know that a failure rate on start ups south of ten percent is pretty good. In this case, though, a lie works better for his purposes. The lie better appeals to his extremist right wing backers in the carbon fuel industries to whom he would cater if elected.
While abortion is, of course, an emotionally freighted topic Romney could not bring himself to put distance between himself and his support of Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock. He didn't ask to have his endorsement ad for Mourdok taken down because he didn't want to possibly risk alienating the ardent foes of abortion with a hint of moderation on the point. He further risks any appeal to women voters by failing to support equal pay rules, such as the Lilly Ledbetter law. Women are rightly sensitive about wanting equal pay for equal work, and they fear such a plight befalling their daughters.
On the issue of Medicare the Romney campaign reveals much about the candidate's view of the American populace. In Romney's view the nation is a pool of Darwinian or perhaps Randian isolates on their own journey through life with little concern of other isolates making the same journey. John Sununu made a bombastic defense of the Ryan Medicare plan by reassuring voters that the cuts/reforms to Medicare would not, " affect those age 55 or older." So there you have it, the Romney philosophy is "if you've got yours why have any concern for those who don't?" Wouldn't that mentality have worked wonders during the northeastern hurricane, Sandy?
The increasingly violent weather the world is experiencing has convinced scientists that the earth's climate is indeed changing. The northeastern hurricane was made worse by the higher sea levels. Romney's earlier reaction to the threat of global warming/climate change mouthed at the Republican convention mirrored the esteemed Limbaugh wing of scientific thought when the candidate snarkily opined that President Obama wanted to lower the level of the ocean and help heal the climatic woes. While of course that's a good laugh line among the de-intelligentsia, in the wake of hurricane Sandy, it's not quite so funny these days. And yet the avoidance of the issue of climate change was painfully obvious from both the Romney and Obama camps throughout the campaign.
Romney has disdain for nearly half of the nation as shown in the taped event where he speaks of 47% of the population as slackers and writes them off as lesser signs in the equation of our nation. Perhaps this is due to his availing himself of tax laws for which the rest of us don't qualify. Maybe that is why we can't understand that he simply wants to grease the skids for the vaunted job creators while putting in place policies to fund tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the middle class. Harry Reid charged that Romney paid no taxes for a number of years. Romney vehemently denied the fact, but recently, proof of Romney's tax-avoidance has surfaced.
The recollection of Romney's illusory truths could be a full time pursuit,and this is a pursuit no one need be worried with after early November. Fortunately for the nation, I believe enough of the electorate will see through the empty suit to realize that although Willard is a good salesman, he won't be closing this deal.
(Obama 310 or more electoral votes, or room to spare)
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Here's Another Fine Mess
God wants politics
God wants a good laugh
What God wants
God gets God help us all
-- Roger Waters, What God Wants-Pt.2
The crowd at IUS last night for the senatorial debate between top contenders Joe Donnelly and Richard Mourdock was treated to a bit of God's words being run through the man-filter, just to add that speck of imperfection the deity finds so amusing. My wife gasped and audibly said "Oh, my God." I was thinking about furnace pipes at the time, I believe, but the candidate's comment entered my brain nonetheless.
The whole affair was dismal by any measure. The moderator read questions, but did little else. His participation, now that I think about it, could have actually been taped and the fellow at the podium may have only been punching buttons on a recorder, which really makes more sense. The candidates were on hand to chime in on cue with rehearsed lines. I truly believe Donnelly mentioned his support for a balanced budget amendment and his participation in cutting $2.4 trillion dollars of government spending no less than three times. Joe D wants nothing to come between him and the antsy, still-discomfited Lugar supporters who are too embarrassed to sign on with an embarrassment like Mourdock.
Donnelly should heed Harry Truman's words that (paraphrasing here), "given a choice between a Democrat that sounds like a Republican and a true Republican, the voters will choose the real thing every time." Luckily, Truman didn't widen the choice to include a face off between a Democrat that sounds like a Republican, and a full-blown lunatic.
Also, luckily for Donnelly, and incidentally for Obama as well, the full-blown lunatic showed up last night while the cameras were running. If we Hoosiers are muttering to ourselves in some distant time about that idiot senator Mourdock, if we are embarrassed by yet another Mourdockism played back to national derision in, say, the year 2015, if we wonder then, "how in the world did President Romney get the votes to attack Belgium?" We'll be able to answer, honestly, we were warned about this fruitcake, but we did nothing. Maybe we thought, "he's just one vote, and anyway, he'll probably never run into Rand Paul, James Inhofe or any of the many Dunces of the Confederacy, so, he'll be a harmless little statement about Hoosier values."
Or, we can be adults, hold our noses and vote for Joe Donnelly, truly the lesser of two evils. Or, ignore the evidence and vote for Mourdock the evil of two lessers.
Monday, October 15, 2012
God Speed
It is sad to read the story that George McGovern is nearing death.
I voted for the first time in 1972. I actually engaged in an internal debate of whether I should vote for Nixon or McGovern.
I believe while choosing the road less traveled I chose wisely. I only regret the many wrong turns our country has taken in subsequent years. The single most under-used, or mis-used, verb in our electoral process is "think". Had we done more of that I believe we would have been in a different, and better, place today. That is what George McGovern asked of us.
I voted for the first time in 1972. I actually engaged in an internal debate of whether I should vote for Nixon or McGovern.
I believe while choosing the road less traveled I chose wisely. I only regret the many wrong turns our country has taken in subsequent years. The single most under-used, or mis-used, verb in our electoral process is "think". Had we done more of that I believe we would have been in a different, and better, place today. That is what George McGovern asked of us.
Tree Planting October 20, 2012
With the week ahead still a clean slate, as people plan what to do for next weekend, I'll offer the following suggestion. The suggestion is one which can truly and positively change our little plot of earth for decades to come.
The Tree Board will plant 150 Chestnut trees at Binford Park. These starts are cross-bred, disease resistant trees ( American Chestnuts with Chinese). The trees have been secured by Bryan Slade of EcoTech as part of that company's plan to plant 10,000 trees, 1,000 a year for 10 years to celebrate the company's anniversary.
The trees planted Saturday will not be the last Chestnuts the Tree Board plants. By making this initial planting we are committing to follow with care and maintenance of these trees as well as bringing more Chestnuts to New Albany. With other groups around the country doing the same thing, we may again see the Chestnut as a major species in our eastern woodlands.
Chestnut trees were decimated in the early half of the Twentieth Century by a blight. The trees had once covered much of the eastern United States. They were a towering, stately tree that contributed immensely to the prosperity of early settlers, they provided abundant habitat for wildlife, they provided a verdant cover for woodlands, and did what trees do, providing clean, fresh oxygen.
Modern cities are plagued by problems of our own construction, bad air-quality, sprawling loss of habitat, heat islands of radiant pavement, to name a few. The simple act of planting a tree can begin to balance out some of these assaults on nature.
Come to Binford Park Saturday October 20 at 9:00 AM and plant a tree. It's a wave to the future.
“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit"
--Nelson Henderson
The Tree Board will plant 150 Chestnut trees at Binford Park. These starts are cross-bred, disease resistant trees ( American Chestnuts with Chinese). The trees have been secured by Bryan Slade of EcoTech as part of that company's plan to plant 10,000 trees, 1,000 a year for 10 years to celebrate the company's anniversary.
The trees planted Saturday will not be the last Chestnuts the Tree Board plants. By making this initial planting we are committing to follow with care and maintenance of these trees as well as bringing more Chestnuts to New Albany. With other groups around the country doing the same thing, we may again see the Chestnut as a major species in our eastern woodlands.
Chestnut trees were decimated in the early half of the Twentieth Century by a blight. The trees had once covered much of the eastern United States. They were a towering, stately tree that contributed immensely to the prosperity of early settlers, they provided abundant habitat for wildlife, they provided a verdant cover for woodlands, and did what trees do, providing clean, fresh oxygen.
Modern cities are plagued by problems of our own construction, bad air-quality, sprawling loss of habitat, heat islands of radiant pavement, to name a few. The simple act of planting a tree can begin to balance out some of these assaults on nature.
Come to Binford Park Saturday October 20 at 9:00 AM and plant a tree. It's a wave to the future.
“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit"
--Nelson Henderson
Saturday, October 13, 2012
The Big Boys
As The Boss prepares to visit Ohio this coming Thursday, in support of the President, perhaps Bain's Big Boys will be getting their song requests together to serenade the Mitt's populist supporters. After all, Mitt wants his populist appeal to reach some of the laggards in the 47% he disdains.
Here's a suggested request Mitt might scribble on the back of a cocktail napkin to pass up to The Boss after he finishes "Born in the USA".
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
ATTENTION LOSERS:The Romney Campaign Wants Your Vote
As anyone with a television, radio or computer knows by now Mitt Romney is rich, a jerk, and a terribly inartful campaigner. Following on the heels of the opinion he offered recently to George Stephanopoulos that the income of the middle class is around, "$200,000 to $250,000 a year", he places something unsavory in the punchbowl of the presidential campaign.
My only question is, "why does this surprise anyone ?"
From top to bottom the Republican Party has been delivered to the fringe of the right wing. The Tea Party has become the Republican Party. The Republican Party has become the Tea Party. The glaring irony of this osmotic flow of party identity is that many of the people Romney speaks so dismissively of are caught in the same net the Mittster cast. The roughly half of the nation Romney says he simply writes off as unreachable boobs, beholden to government largess and an easy existence on the dole, make up a fair amount of his Tea Party base. They are retired. They are disabled. They are stuck in low-paying, dead-end jobs and so they don't make enough money to cross the threshold of paying taxes. Perhaps these low-wage dregs owe their station in life to a policy of job-elimination similar to that pursued by Romney's Bain Capital.
And yet, we are told, the presidential race remains tight, maybe even too close to call.
What's the matter with these people? Don't they own a television?
ATTENTION LOSERS: The Romney Campaign Wants Your Vote
As anyone with a television, radio or computer knows by now Mitt Romney is rich, a jerk, and a terribly inartful campaigner. Following on the heels of the opinion he offered recently to George Stephanopoulos that the income of the middle class is around, "$200,000 to $250,000 a year", he places something unsavory in the punchbowl of the presidential campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnB0NZzl5HA&feature=player_embedded
My only question is, "why does this surprise anyone ?"
From top to bottom the Republican Party has been delivered to the fringe of the right wing. The Tea Party has become the Republican Party. The Republican Party has become the Tea Party. The glaring irony of this osmotic flow of party identity is that many of the people Romney speaks so dismissively of are caught in the same net the Mittster cast. The roughly half of the nation Romney says he simply writes off as unreachable boobs, beholden to government largess and an easy existence on the dole, make up a fair amount of his Tea Party base. They are retired. They are disabled. They are stuck in low-paying, dead-end jobs and so they don't make enough money to cross the threshold of paying taxes. Perhaps these low-wage dregs owe their station in life to a policy of job-elimination similar to that pursued by Romney's Bain Capital.
And yet, we are told, the presidential race remains tight, maybe even too close to call.
What's the matter with these people? Don't they own a television?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnB0NZzl5HA&feature=player_embedded
My only question is, "why does this surprise anyone ?"
From top to bottom the Republican Party has been delivered to the fringe of the right wing. The Tea Party has become the Republican Party. The Republican Party has become the Tea Party. The glaring irony of this osmotic flow of party identity is that many of the people Romney speaks so dismissively of are caught in the same net the Mittster cast. The roughly half of the nation Romney says he simply writes off as unreachable boobs, beholden to government largess and an easy existence on the dole, make up a fair amount of his Tea Party base. They are retired. They are disabled. They are stuck in low-paying, dead-end jobs and so they don't make enough money to cross the threshold of paying taxes. Perhaps these low-wage dregs owe their station in life to a policy of job-elimination similar to that pursued by Romney's Bain Capital.
And yet, we are told, the presidential race remains tight, maybe even too close to call.
What's the matter with these people? Don't they own a television?
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Cleared for Take Off
As the Democratic convention in Charlotte gets ready to take off, one will be amazed at how often the question will be put to Obama surrogates, "are you better off now than you were four years ago?"
The answer is, hell yes.
Four years ago, if the U.S. were an airplane and George Bush the captain...
But, four years ago the captain of our flight was Barack Obama. Passengers boarded with an air of optimism, perhaps greater than the occasion called for, but most were so relieved to be deplaning from the ruinous, bizarre flight they had just endured that they felt nothing could be worse, and therefore things would be better immediately upon takeoff. There weren't enough little bottles of booze on the planet, let alone the plane, to make the previous flight tolerable.
Sure, Captain Bush had filed incorrect flight plans, there'd be no time for a maintenance check, a lot of people had died, but everybody in First Class was having a grand time and the people in Coach had plans and needed to get where they were going. So as he was leaving, Captain Bush kind of winked and tossed the new guy the keys and said "she's all yours, fuel gauge is acting up little, don't worry about it." Then, strangely, he kissed the ground.
As the plane lifted off, some of the passengers looked at snapshots from the earlier leg of the journey. Here's the day the terrorists attacked, and some were glad Captain Bush was at the helm. Just after that one was taken multitudes of IRANIANS flooded the streets of Tehran in a candlelight vigil of support for the U.S. in it's hour of tragedy. Why did the Captain label that very picture "Axis of Evil"?
Here's a few shots of the nineteen hijackers who boarded planes that day to mount the attack. Fifteen were from Saudi Arabia, so we knew then that the super-size can of Industrial-Strength Woop Ass would soon be directed at Saudi Arabia. But here's another photo of George W. kissing a prince from Saudi Arabia, must be like a Godfather kiss, right? Funny story, the whole Woop Ass thing with Saudi Arabia got trumped by an older black and white picture of W's dad getting threatened by Saddam Hussein. Since none of the hijackers came from Iraq you might think they'd be sort of in the clear, but their pictures are also labeled "Axis of Evil".
Here's an old one of Dick Cheney when he named himself vice president, written on the back, "no one else was qualified". Here's another titled "energy task force", but it's just a picture of a closed door, I don't remember what that's about.
Here's one of Jeb Bush when he was governor of Florida on the night of the 2000 election, that one's got "inside job" written on the back, but it's crossed out and instead it looks like it's just got numbers "5-4" written instead.
Somebody from First Class by way of a stewardess, sent a note back to Coach that said, "you all are living in the past, looking at all those old pictures. And besides, Captain W and Dick the co-pilot gave us a great flight."
Maybe it's not good to dwell on the past, but so many of the happy memories of the Bush years continue to influence what we're doing today, and the cost of two wars, one against the wrong enemy, continues to weigh down our economy. The special treatment of the people up in First Class has cut into the amenities of us back here in Coach. Captain Bush's tax cuts along with the wars, drove us nearly Five Trillion dollars further into debt. Obama's debt has been high too but you don't quibble about the price of water when the house, or plane, is on fire.
Back to the friendly skies for a moment. The reason I think things are better now than four years ago is that the economy, like a plane, was crashing then. It was crashing under the ruinous policies of Bush. While Obama has stabilized it and we've actually seen job growth for over two years. Under Bush jobs were disappearing at the rate of 700,000 per month.
Continuing on the airplane metaphor for just a moment longer, recall the Twilight Zone episode of the wild flight William Shatner had. He looked out the window to see a demon tampering with the engines to make the plane crash. When Obama looks out the airplane window he sees the beady, bespeckled eyes of the senior senator from Kentucky, the odious Mitch McConnell, working feverishly to bring truth to his traitorous pledge to make Obama a one term president.
Yes, it's been a rough flight under Captain Obama. We all wish we had made better progress on the journey. I for one, wish we had picked up single-payer health coverage in the gift shop. But Obama did end the war in Iraq. He did make some progress toward universal health coverage. Against an intransigent Republican party he has tried, but admittedly failed, to return tax policy to the time of budget surpluses. The sacrosanct job-creators, pampered by ten years of favored treatment, have thus far failed to deliver on their eponymous long suit. Instead they wait, we are told, for another plane.
Me? I'll stay on Captain Obama's flight.
The answer is, hell yes.
Four years ago, if the U.S. were an airplane and George Bush the captain...
But, four years ago the captain of our flight was Barack Obama. Passengers boarded with an air of optimism, perhaps greater than the occasion called for, but most were so relieved to be deplaning from the ruinous, bizarre flight they had just endured that they felt nothing could be worse, and therefore things would be better immediately upon takeoff. There weren't enough little bottles of booze on the planet, let alone the plane, to make the previous flight tolerable.
Sure, Captain Bush had filed incorrect flight plans, there'd be no time for a maintenance check, a lot of people had died, but everybody in First Class was having a grand time and the people in Coach had plans and needed to get where they were going. So as he was leaving, Captain Bush kind of winked and tossed the new guy the keys and said "she's all yours, fuel gauge is acting up little, don't worry about it." Then, strangely, he kissed the ground.
As the plane lifted off, some of the passengers looked at snapshots from the earlier leg of the journey. Here's the day the terrorists attacked, and some were glad Captain Bush was at the helm. Just after that one was taken multitudes of IRANIANS flooded the streets of Tehran in a candlelight vigil of support for the U.S. in it's hour of tragedy. Why did the Captain label that very picture "Axis of Evil"?
Here's a few shots of the nineteen hijackers who boarded planes that day to mount the attack. Fifteen were from Saudi Arabia, so we knew then that the super-size can of Industrial-Strength Woop Ass would soon be directed at Saudi Arabia. But here's another photo of George W. kissing a prince from Saudi Arabia, must be like a Godfather kiss, right? Funny story, the whole Woop Ass thing with Saudi Arabia got trumped by an older black and white picture of W's dad getting threatened by Saddam Hussein. Since none of the hijackers came from Iraq you might think they'd be sort of in the clear, but their pictures are also labeled "Axis of Evil".
Here's an old one of Dick Cheney when he named himself vice president, written on the back, "no one else was qualified". Here's another titled "energy task force", but it's just a picture of a closed door, I don't remember what that's about.
Here's one of Jeb Bush when he was governor of Florida on the night of the 2000 election, that one's got "inside job" written on the back, but it's crossed out and instead it looks like it's just got numbers "5-4" written instead.
Somebody from First Class by way of a stewardess, sent a note back to Coach that said, "you all are living in the past, looking at all those old pictures. And besides, Captain W and Dick the co-pilot gave us a great flight."
Maybe it's not good to dwell on the past, but so many of the happy memories of the Bush years continue to influence what we're doing today, and the cost of two wars, one against the wrong enemy, continues to weigh down our economy. The special treatment of the people up in First Class has cut into the amenities of us back here in Coach. Captain Bush's tax cuts along with the wars, drove us nearly Five Trillion dollars further into debt. Obama's debt has been high too but you don't quibble about the price of water when the house, or plane, is on fire.
Back to the friendly skies for a moment. The reason I think things are better now than four years ago is that the economy, like a plane, was crashing then. It was crashing under the ruinous policies of Bush. While Obama has stabilized it and we've actually seen job growth for over two years. Under Bush jobs were disappearing at the rate of 700,000 per month.
Continuing on the airplane metaphor for just a moment longer, recall the Twilight Zone episode of the wild flight William Shatner had. He looked out the window to see a demon tampering with the engines to make the plane crash. When Obama looks out the airplane window he sees the beady, bespeckled eyes of the senior senator from Kentucky, the odious Mitch McConnell, working feverishly to bring truth to his traitorous pledge to make Obama a one term president.
Yes, it's been a rough flight under Captain Obama. We all wish we had made better progress on the journey. I for one, wish we had picked up single-payer health coverage in the gift shop. But Obama did end the war in Iraq. He did make some progress toward universal health coverage. Against an intransigent Republican party he has tried, but admittedly failed, to return tax policy to the time of budget surpluses. The sacrosanct job-creators, pampered by ten years of favored treatment, have thus far failed to deliver on their eponymous long suit. Instead they wait, we are told, for another plane.
Me? I'll stay on Captain Obama's flight.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Ethics Commission
At tomorrow night's City Council meeting the Council will consider Bill Number G-12-07 which proposes an Ethics Commission for the city of New Albany. The ordinance has been lumbering toward tomorrow's vote for several months now. In fact, it was first considered during 2010 but was not brought forward until this year.
The purpose of the proposal is to lay the groundwork for the formation of an ethics commission. It is not to form that commission as a working body. All the Council is voting on now is to enable the body to form; for the appointers to fulfill their task of naming members to the commission. Once appointed, the commission members must get to work in writing the bylaws of the commission. The ordinance allows only three months for this formative task to be completed.
The significance of the distinction of enabling versus crafting is to insulate the commission from the inevitable charges of favoritism, cronyism or any other similar ism one might foresee. I hope the commission will act as a sounding board for citizens' concerns about the interplay of commerce and government within our city. Again, the yet-to-be-formed commission has wide leeway to draw up its mandate and the methodology of pursuing that mandate. Neither the Council nor the Administration will have a direct hand in guiding this commission through the drafting of its constitution. I believe, however, the newly appointed commission members could benefit from reading material recommended and forwarded to them by the Council and the Administration.
On quite a few occasions Council meetings have featured charges lodged by citizens against City personnel. The Ethics Commission should now become the venue for the voicing of those concerns. That forum should allow for a thorough, dispassionate, and apolitical hearing of those complaints. Sometimes people are too close to the process of government to know if a certain action passes the smell test necessary for good government. Sometimes people are too timid or feel that their voices will not be heard, and so retreat from speaking up when they see something that troubles them about local government. I hope the Commission is so constituted to allay those fears and to invite a wider circle of citizens into the oversight of their government.
In discussing the role the appointers were asked to play in this process, several of them said that to be asked to participate in the governance of their community was an honor. If I were not involved in government and were asked to perform such a task I would likewise consider it an honor, and one I would approach seriously. I believe the Ethics Commission can be a valuable tool for good government in our city. It is by no means a panacea. It is my hope that once this commission is formed and in place for some time that it will prove its worth to the community.
The purpose of the proposal is to lay the groundwork for the formation of an ethics commission. It is not to form that commission as a working body. All the Council is voting on now is to enable the body to form; for the appointers to fulfill their task of naming members to the commission. Once appointed, the commission members must get to work in writing the bylaws of the commission. The ordinance allows only three months for this formative task to be completed.
The significance of the distinction of enabling versus crafting is to insulate the commission from the inevitable charges of favoritism, cronyism or any other similar ism one might foresee. I hope the commission will act as a sounding board for citizens' concerns about the interplay of commerce and government within our city. Again, the yet-to-be-formed commission has wide leeway to draw up its mandate and the methodology of pursuing that mandate. Neither the Council nor the Administration will have a direct hand in guiding this commission through the drafting of its constitution. I believe, however, the newly appointed commission members could benefit from reading material recommended and forwarded to them by the Council and the Administration.
On quite a few occasions Council meetings have featured charges lodged by citizens against City personnel. The Ethics Commission should now become the venue for the voicing of those concerns. That forum should allow for a thorough, dispassionate, and apolitical hearing of those complaints. Sometimes people are too close to the process of government to know if a certain action passes the smell test necessary for good government. Sometimes people are too timid or feel that their voices will not be heard, and so retreat from speaking up when they see something that troubles them about local government. I hope the Commission is so constituted to allay those fears and to invite a wider circle of citizens into the oversight of their government.
In discussing the role the appointers were asked to play in this process, several of them said that to be asked to participate in the governance of their community was an honor. If I were not involved in government and were asked to perform such a task I would likewise consider it an honor, and one I would approach seriously. I believe the Ethics Commission can be a valuable tool for good government in our city. It is by no means a panacea. It is my hope that once this commission is formed and in place for some time that it will prove its worth to the community.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Windows? We Don't Need No Stinking Windows
Right out of the gate, let me say that the store pictured above is an improvement over the abandoned filling station which used to occupy this prime spot on New Albany's State Street.
It is the addition a of general retail store closest to New Albany's downtown in a long time. Unfortunately, the orientation of the store seems to suggest it wants nothing to do with downtown. It seems to be marooned on an island, adrift from the big box stores farther out the road, and longing to join its larger brothers. It shows its hind quarters to downtown. To pedestrians it offers a not-so-friendly view of sheet metal which says, "this is a transactional place only, not part of a larger community revival. It doesn't want to be. Now get your cheap stuff and go." Come to think of it, it's really still a filling station.
New Albany's planners were most likely handed cookie-cutter plans for this store which meet all the minimum requirements for the siting of a retail establishment. Many other communities have opened their doors to this retailer. In fact, New Albany has another location of the same store on Vincennes Street, where the old Daisy Line Car Barn stood abandoned for years. From an economic development perspective, some points are now on the scoreboard with this new store. And, with its proximity to Riverview Towers, public housing on Bono Road, and other less affluent neighborhoods, the store does serve a purpose.
It is better than an abandoned filling station. And yet, New Albany has missed an opportunity to raise the bar just a bit. We have missed the chance to broaden the footprint of downtown New Albany. We have quite visibly underscored the notion that when you want something in this town you get in your car to get it.
The corner of Oak and State Streets, charitably speaking, could use some work. While it is just a short walk from the heart of downtown, a downtown whose progress toward vitality most recognize, it is miles away in terms of being included in that revival. It is part of the frayed edge of downtown leading to blocks of a street that is not prosperous and seems to not to have prospects of reaching that distant objective. (this, notwithstanding claims by several who have claimed State Street is the most valuable land inch for inch within the Metro area--Really?) The corner is largely disheveled and houses businesses which magnify the sense of vacancy seen, in fact, on one corner.
That corner, with its proximity to the city center, should be held to a higher standard and it should be developed with an eye toward integrating into a downtown with a larger footprint. It should serve as a bookend to the downtown (I started to use the more common term in mall building of an "anchor", as in anchor store, but in this case the literal meaning of anchor seems closer to the mark). And when development infills the space between the city center and the corner of Oak and State, a new bookend could be placed farther out the street.
But now the new store presents a bit of a wrinkle in that plan. Assuming something is finally resolved with the owner of the heavy equipment/truck business in the old Lang garage, and the corner is developed integrally with downtown, the renewed block would have a void. But unfortunately, the void will not be able to be developed because it's already filled with tangible nothingness.
New Albany sits at a crossroads, thanks to the opportunities presented by a revivified downtown and a building trend of support for local businesses, in both goods and services. We have a chance to get this right. We must revisit building standards and undertake the difficult work of making those standards fit the needs of what is possible in New Albany today. We can ask for better than what has appeared on State Street. We can do better.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
If Only
If only...
Monday, May 28, 2012
This Side of the Line
In recognition of Memorial Day I'm in search of one of the greatest war movies I've ever seen, Terrence Malick's, "The Thin Red Line". While I haven't seen the movie in at least ten years, I recall it offering an ambivalent exploration of heroism and the horror of war.
As the young son of a World War II veteran, I recall a tinge of disappointment in my father as he related that his five years in the Army Air Corps, and a year or more in the South Pacific, had not yielded any dead Japs. Many years later, I now think of how truly fortunate he was to have been spared that terrible duty.
As the young son of a World War II veteran, I recall a tinge of disappointment in my father as he related that his five years in the Army Air Corps, and a year or more in the South Pacific, had not yielded any dead Japs. Many years later, I now think of how truly fortunate he was to have been spared that terrible duty.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Beware the Modern Scrivener's Tools
Following is an excerpt from the minutes of the April 19, 2012 City Council meeting. It is a direct copy of the official minutes.
While my words will not be chiseled aside those of Lincoln, Roosevelt or Churchill, the excerpt may stand as a cautionary note on the danger of relying on spell-check as the only editing tool.
Mr. Gonder stated that the ordinance is a compilation of ordinances that were being enforced around the state and some of the other examples were president of the Chambers of Commerce and the largest employer of the city, and the fact of the matter is that he specifically included the Post Master which is certainly not a high-flatulent position but one that deals with a wide variety of individuals from all walks of life. He stated that he is offended that anyone would even suggest that anything he is supporting is racially biased because that is not who he is.italics added
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Density Good for Cities
Here's a link to an interesting article which points out one way New Albany can regain prosperity. It's a simple solution and, like Dorothy's ruby slippers,one we've had all along.
Granted New Albany's not Asheville, but plenty of people live here and have decided to stay here. Downtown New Albany's density has already been diluted to with a history of poor judgment and a proliferation of surface parking lots. So maybe we need to focus on near-density or walking-distance density.
Many of our houses near the heart of the city are ill-maintained, and so they are an impediment to realizing the potential we have for increasing prosperous density. But that's another topic for another day.
Granted New Albany's not Asheville, but plenty of people live here and have decided to stay here. Downtown New Albany's density has already been diluted to with a history of poor judgment and a proliferation of surface parking lots. So maybe we need to focus on near-density or walking-distance density.
Many of our houses near the heart of the city are ill-maintained, and so they are an impediment to realizing the potential we have for increasing prosperous density. But that's another topic for another day.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Down Fulda Way
One day in early February of this year I had driven to Tell City on business. Since I had finished earlier than expected, and perhaps due to the first tell-tale signs of Spring evident on that sunny day, I decided to come back to New Albany in a more circuitous route than normal.
I have an iphone which has a compass feature and a gps on it. "Pshaw", I said, "I don't need any help getting back to N.A. And besides, I might stumble across a new prospect for work." So before leaving the rather familiar setting of Tell City I loaded up my thermos with coffee and headed away from the river. Generally speaking, that should be north.
While I was finding little in the way of prospective business opportunities, I was dialed into the classic rock station on satellite radio on what must have been a momentous day in the history of Canned Heat, because an unusually long version of their magnum opus "On the Road Again" was followed immediately by their other magnum opus "Goin Up the Country". The sun was bright, the coffee was still hot and the road ahead seemed interesting and headed in the right direction.
Since I had just about given up the ruse of looking for business, although one never knows around which corner prosperity lies for a salesman, I was not paying particular attention to my precise latitude and longitude. I recall seeing a sign for Fulda, but I can't say for sure that I was in that town or had just seen a sign directing people toward it.
At any rate somewhere near, or near to someplace that could be directionally related to Fulda, I met Caleb. I think his last name was Blauch or Block. At first I was pretty sure he was "on" something. His two tone Studebaker Hawk swerved around a corner throwing dust in my general direction causing me to spill my coffee in an awkward and uncomfortable spot. I reacted by hitting the brakes too hard, I slipped off the gravel/asphalt road onto the shoulder and uncomfortably close to last year's corn field. My car, with American ingenuity engineered in, has a self-defense mechanism that causes the engine to stall out when sudden impacts occur, apparently such an impact occurred when I left the road.
As I was sitting in the immobile car, I was pleasantly surprised by the near-absolute quiet of the countryside. It was so peaceful, and, presumably deserted, the near miss not withstanding, that I thought I might be able to take off my soaked pants and put on my gym shorts from the bag in the back seat. I was in fact reaching around to get the gym bag when I heard a voice with an ever-so-slight German accent say, "far out man, are you OK? You drive like Steve McQueen."
Reluctantly, I got out of the car and only then, in the full sunlight, did I see the full need to change into something a bit more comfortable and a bit less soggy than the coffee-soaked khakis I was wearing. I must have presented a humorous sight to Caleb, as he was giggling uncontrollably at my situation. He offered to share with me a cigarette. "Do you want an Old Gold or A Rolled Gold?" Apparently he'd already made his choice. I declined either, but said I'd like to know what he was doing driving so fast on this road. "You know, it could have been more serious than it was, the way you came tearing down the road like you did." "Hey man, I don't ever want to hurt anyone, but have you heard that new one by Donovan, man? I was just groovin to "The Epistle to Dippy". Man, that is so out there, and I was trying to make up some more words for it. 'Cause I'm in a band and Donovan's so cool, he's hot, and he's one of our favorites."
I asked if he could stand by in case I need help getting back up on the road. That's when Caleb noticed that I had lost the air in my tire, and, in fact, the tire was at an odd angle. "Hey, man, I'm really sorry about this. I just live over there." He pointed in some indeterminate direction that seemed to suggest that he dwelled among the many trees beyond the corn field. He said he lived in a commune, although I truly believe he used the words, "intentional collective". Nonetheless, in this intentional collective was a guy named Ezekiel who Caleb promised had both a tractor to pull the car out of the mud and the skill to fix the bent wheel. I wasn't going anywhere, so I might as well go with Caleb in search of Ezekiel.
The Studebaker was a surprisingly nice ride. And the Dylanesque harmonica neck brace Caleb had been wearing as he tried to flesh out "The Epistle to Dippy" lay on the seat between us and seemed to be the missing piece as to why his attention had wandered at the fateful curve.
As we crossed the wood-decked bridge the unusual sight of the commune opened before my eyes. A full two blocks on both sides of a street were filled with store fronts. It looked like a back lot at a movie studio. The place was not exactly bustling, but people seemed to be shuffling from building to building engaged in commerce and the general tasks of city life. I've been to New Harmony many times. I know quaint. And I think I know genuine. This place was both quaint and genuine. The stores seemed familiar, but not. Then I saw the car lot, "Yoder's Wheels For You". I'm not a real car buff, but I think I didn't see anything newer than about 1965. There were probably fifteen or twenty cars under strings of multi-colored pointy flags and a, for lack of a better word, hippie sitting in the bed of about a 1950 something pickup truck strumming a guitar. Two unclothed pre-schoolers played under the shade of a tree; they were blowing bubbles and a dog was gleefully chasing after the bubbles. A cat sat atop a Rambler convertible, interested but uninvolved.
My eyes must have betrayed my puzzlement.
Caleb simply said, "We're Amish."
As we walked into his living room, his wife, Gert, seemed to have stepped out of the photo gallery in the Woodstock album. "Hello, I'm Gert. You've wet your pants." Caleb to the rescue with a retelling of the incident on the road. In his version the near-collision seemed a bit more my fault than his. But, hey Gert makes wonderful granola, and the yogurt and honey was outstanding, so imprecise assignment of the blame is OK with me.
As Ezekiel worked his magic on the bent wheel, Caleb explained that theirs is a break-away sect from the mainline Amish. While the original Amish ride in buggies, and will not use electricity from a power plant and in other ways have stopped the clock at about the turn of the Nineteenth Century, the intentional community into which I had stumbled stopped the clock in 1967, uses electricity to power only those appliances available in 1967 or earlier, and rides in cars that made in '67 or earlier.
This updating of the Amish way had been suggested as a means of keeping the younger ones involved in the faith. So during a long summer of discontent a few yers ago, the painful birthing of the "new order" began. Some had suggested that the any temporal brake be disengaged, that the Amish simply join the modern world. A not-so-fast mentality won the day, and 1967 was chosen as a compromise between the group who wanted pre-World War II and those who wanted the Eighties. "Everything still seemed possible in '67", Caleb explained.
All of the stores in town are resale shops. A party of elders within the commune have contacts within Goodwill stores, Salvation Army thrift stores, and a wide network of similar resellers. The record store carries Moby Grape, but you won't find Moby. As with the orthodox Amish, most of the food is produced within the community itself, so there's no necessity to search out time-capsule Twinkies or the like.
Caleb said they haven't had much trouble finding the material goods to keep their clocks set on 1967. But, he knows the young ones will always rebel. "It just comes with the territory, man. There's probably one of those kids out there right now that'll want to jump up to 1975 one of these days. That would blow my mind, but that's just life, man. It's a trip."
While the commune members, unlike their orthodox kin don't eschew photography, they insist that all pictures be taken with cameras extant in 1967 or earler. I didn't have my Brownie camera me, and I can never remember whether it takes 120 or 126 film anyway. So I'll just have to look over the pictures in my memory until I can get back out that way.
I have an iphone which has a compass feature and a gps on it. "Pshaw", I said, "I don't need any help getting back to N.A. And besides, I might stumble across a new prospect for work." So before leaving the rather familiar setting of Tell City I loaded up my thermos with coffee and headed away from the river. Generally speaking, that should be north.
While I was finding little in the way of prospective business opportunities, I was dialed into the classic rock station on satellite radio on what must have been a momentous day in the history of Canned Heat, because an unusually long version of their magnum opus "On the Road Again" was followed immediately by their other magnum opus "Goin Up the Country". The sun was bright, the coffee was still hot and the road ahead seemed interesting and headed in the right direction.
Since I had just about given up the ruse of looking for business, although one never knows around which corner prosperity lies for a salesman, I was not paying particular attention to my precise latitude and longitude. I recall seeing a sign for Fulda, but I can't say for sure that I was in that town or had just seen a sign directing people toward it.
At any rate somewhere near, or near to someplace that could be directionally related to Fulda, I met Caleb. I think his last name was Blauch or Block. At first I was pretty sure he was "on" something. His two tone Studebaker Hawk swerved around a corner throwing dust in my general direction causing me to spill my coffee in an awkward and uncomfortable spot. I reacted by hitting the brakes too hard, I slipped off the gravel/asphalt road onto the shoulder and uncomfortably close to last year's corn field. My car, with American ingenuity engineered in, has a self-defense mechanism that causes the engine to stall out when sudden impacts occur, apparently such an impact occurred when I left the road.
As I was sitting in the immobile car, I was pleasantly surprised by the near-absolute quiet of the countryside. It was so peaceful, and, presumably deserted, the near miss not withstanding, that I thought I might be able to take off my soaked pants and put on my gym shorts from the bag in the back seat. I was in fact reaching around to get the gym bag when I heard a voice with an ever-so-slight German accent say, "far out man, are you OK? You drive like Steve McQueen."
Reluctantly, I got out of the car and only then, in the full sunlight, did I see the full need to change into something a bit more comfortable and a bit less soggy than the coffee-soaked khakis I was wearing. I must have presented a humorous sight to Caleb, as he was giggling uncontrollably at my situation. He offered to share with me a cigarette. "Do you want an Old Gold or A Rolled Gold?" Apparently he'd already made his choice. I declined either, but said I'd like to know what he was doing driving so fast on this road. "You know, it could have been more serious than it was, the way you came tearing down the road like you did." "Hey man, I don't ever want to hurt anyone, but have you heard that new one by Donovan, man? I was just groovin to "The Epistle to Dippy". Man, that is so out there, and I was trying to make up some more words for it. 'Cause I'm in a band and Donovan's so cool, he's hot, and he's one of our favorites."
I asked if he could stand by in case I need help getting back up on the road. That's when Caleb noticed that I had lost the air in my tire, and, in fact, the tire was at an odd angle. "Hey, man, I'm really sorry about this. I just live over there." He pointed in some indeterminate direction that seemed to suggest that he dwelled among the many trees beyond the corn field. He said he lived in a commune, although I truly believe he used the words, "intentional collective". Nonetheless, in this intentional collective was a guy named Ezekiel who Caleb promised had both a tractor to pull the car out of the mud and the skill to fix the bent wheel. I wasn't going anywhere, so I might as well go with Caleb in search of Ezekiel.
The Studebaker was a surprisingly nice ride. And the Dylanesque harmonica neck brace Caleb had been wearing as he tried to flesh out "The Epistle to Dippy" lay on the seat between us and seemed to be the missing piece as to why his attention had wandered at the fateful curve.
As we crossed the wood-decked bridge the unusual sight of the commune opened before my eyes. A full two blocks on both sides of a street were filled with store fronts. It looked like a back lot at a movie studio. The place was not exactly bustling, but people seemed to be shuffling from building to building engaged in commerce and the general tasks of city life. I've been to New Harmony many times. I know quaint. And I think I know genuine. This place was both quaint and genuine. The stores seemed familiar, but not. Then I saw the car lot, "Yoder's Wheels For You". I'm not a real car buff, but I think I didn't see anything newer than about 1965. There were probably fifteen or twenty cars under strings of multi-colored pointy flags and a, for lack of a better word, hippie sitting in the bed of about a 1950 something pickup truck strumming a guitar. Two unclothed pre-schoolers played under the shade of a tree; they were blowing bubbles and a dog was gleefully chasing after the bubbles. A cat sat atop a Rambler convertible, interested but uninvolved.
My eyes must have betrayed my puzzlement.
Caleb simply said, "We're Amish."
As we walked into his living room, his wife, Gert, seemed to have stepped out of the photo gallery in the Woodstock album. "Hello, I'm Gert. You've wet your pants." Caleb to the rescue with a retelling of the incident on the road. In his version the near-collision seemed a bit more my fault than his. But, hey Gert makes wonderful granola, and the yogurt and honey was outstanding, so imprecise assignment of the blame is OK with me.
As Ezekiel worked his magic on the bent wheel, Caleb explained that theirs is a break-away sect from the mainline Amish. While the original Amish ride in buggies, and will not use electricity from a power plant and in other ways have stopped the clock at about the turn of the Nineteenth Century, the intentional community into which I had stumbled stopped the clock in 1967, uses electricity to power only those appliances available in 1967 or earlier, and rides in cars that made in '67 or earlier.
This updating of the Amish way had been suggested as a means of keeping the younger ones involved in the faith. So during a long summer of discontent a few yers ago, the painful birthing of the "new order" began. Some had suggested that the any temporal brake be disengaged, that the Amish simply join the modern world. A not-so-fast mentality won the day, and 1967 was chosen as a compromise between the group who wanted pre-World War II and those who wanted the Eighties. "Everything still seemed possible in '67", Caleb explained.
All of the stores in town are resale shops. A party of elders within the commune have contacts within Goodwill stores, Salvation Army thrift stores, and a wide network of similar resellers. The record store carries Moby Grape, but you won't find Moby. As with the orthodox Amish, most of the food is produced within the community itself, so there's no necessity to search out time-capsule Twinkies or the like.
Caleb said they haven't had much trouble finding the material goods to keep their clocks set on 1967. But, he knows the young ones will always rebel. "It just comes with the territory, man. There's probably one of those kids out there right now that'll want to jump up to 1975 one of these days. That would blow my mind, but that's just life, man. It's a trip."
While the commune members, unlike their orthodox kin don't eschew photography, they insist that all pictures be taken with cameras extant in 1967 or earler. I didn't have my Brownie camera me, and I can never remember whether it takes 120 or 126 film anyway. So I'll just have to look over the pictures in my memory until I can get back out that way.
Friday, March 16, 2012
The Vagina Idealogues
As I stand near the river's edge, matches and gasoline in hand, it hits me that we have reached a point in political discourse very much like a fork in the road. Down one way lies capitulation. Down the other, gunfire, battle, no turning back. Both sides are in the fray. All in? Or just auditing the class?
People will often say, "there's no difference between the two political parties." On many issues that's true. Both swim, like spawning salmon, up the stream of unholy political effluence. Both seek favor from those with favor to bestow; those with their hands on Capitalism's master switch; those with the money, the dough, the sine qua non of our political system.
Yet one of our political parties seeks to do what most decent people used to shy away from. One political party operates from the scorched-earth play book. One political party stands astride the fork in the road and, like the Black Knight in Monty Python's "Holy Grail", dares anyone to pass who has not met the measure of its occlusive edicts.
Once there was a man named Lincoln. He stood for immutable principles. He believed in government "of the people, by the people, for the people." He believed in a nation which would rise to meet the expectations of its "better angels." He was a Republican. I am a Democrat. I have felt nothing like reverence for our country more than those evenings when I have stood before the Great Emancipator's statue and read his immortal words, "with malice toward none...". Yet today, his party, the Republican Party, has evidently thrown its lot in with those who wish to take this nation down a dangerous, intolerant, theocratic road.
Today the cudgel is women's' rights; specifically their health care rights, their rights to control their participation in the birth process. In states across the land, Republican after Republican have raised high their hands in salute to the efforts of their fellow party operatives in curtailing women's' health care choices.
In the last couple of days, a state legislator in Arizona put forth inane legislation which would require women using birth-control pills to enunciate the reason why they are using birth control pills. Apparently in this human's vision of Arizona, and presumably the United States of America, it's acceptable for the government to determine which female citizens have a legal right to birth-control pills. In this human's view, those who do not want the pills to control pregnancy have a right to the pills. Those who do wish to control pregnancy do not. Wouldn't Lincoln be proud of his progeny?
Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Mississippi and other states have, in response to Republican playbooks, (perhaps written by the Koch Brothers?) laid down the gauntlet for women across the land: cede control of your bodies to the State, or become an enemy OF the State.
Is this the United States of America as we have known it to be? Who are these radical Republicans? The most famous mouthpiece of the radical Republican Party is Rush Limbaugh. This sociopathic huckster has peed in the punch bowl of political discourse for nearly three decades. Is it not time for someone of the adult persuasion within the Republican Party to muzzle this incendiary boob? Need we rehash his "slut" and "prostitute" brayings?
In most of my writings on this blog I have stressed the difference between RADICAL Republicans and those who simply, through ancestry, identify themselves, and vote, Republican. I have in mind a picture of a sweet woman who was a dear friend of my Mother. She was, and presumably is, a Republican--I accept such membership in the Party of Lincoln. But, I can no longer give a pass to those who actively participate in the hateful, divisive, anti-American activities of the RADICAL Republican Party.
The leaders of this movement are engaged in a campaign to destroy the cohesion of our the nation. Decent members of the G.O.P. owe it to their nation and to their own sense of humanity to disavow membership in this party of intolerance and hate so long as it dances to the tune of the current agenda-setters of that party.
Recall that once your party answered the clarion call of OUR "better angels". Today it has become a shill for corporate masters and peddlers of intolerance.
From time to time we all lose our way.
E Pluribus Unum.
People will often say, "there's no difference between the two political parties." On many issues that's true. Both swim, like spawning salmon, up the stream of unholy political effluence. Both seek favor from those with favor to bestow; those with their hands on Capitalism's master switch; those with the money, the dough, the sine qua non of our political system.
Yet one of our political parties seeks to do what most decent people used to shy away from. One political party operates from the scorched-earth play book. One political party stands astride the fork in the road and, like the Black Knight in Monty Python's "Holy Grail", dares anyone to pass who has not met the measure of its occlusive edicts.
Once there was a man named Lincoln. He stood for immutable principles. He believed in government "of the people, by the people, for the people." He believed in a nation which would rise to meet the expectations of its "better angels." He was a Republican. I am a Democrat. I have felt nothing like reverence for our country more than those evenings when I have stood before the Great Emancipator's statue and read his immortal words, "with malice toward none...". Yet today, his party, the Republican Party, has evidently thrown its lot in with those who wish to take this nation down a dangerous, intolerant, theocratic road.
Today the cudgel is women's' rights; specifically their health care rights, their rights to control their participation in the birth process. In states across the land, Republican after Republican have raised high their hands in salute to the efforts of their fellow party operatives in curtailing women's' health care choices.
In the last couple of days, a state legislator in Arizona put forth inane legislation which would require women using birth-control pills to enunciate the reason why they are using birth control pills. Apparently in this human's vision of Arizona, and presumably the United States of America, it's acceptable for the government to determine which female citizens have a legal right to birth-control pills. In this human's view, those who do not want the pills to control pregnancy have a right to the pills. Those who do wish to control pregnancy do not. Wouldn't Lincoln be proud of his progeny?
Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Mississippi and other states have, in response to Republican playbooks, (perhaps written by the Koch Brothers?) laid down the gauntlet for women across the land: cede control of your bodies to the State, or become an enemy OF the State.
Is this the United States of America as we have known it to be? Who are these radical Republicans? The most famous mouthpiece of the radical Republican Party is Rush Limbaugh. This sociopathic huckster has peed in the punch bowl of political discourse for nearly three decades. Is it not time for someone of the adult persuasion within the Republican Party to muzzle this incendiary boob? Need we rehash his "slut" and "prostitute" brayings?
In most of my writings on this blog I have stressed the difference between RADICAL Republicans and those who simply, through ancestry, identify themselves, and vote, Republican. I have in mind a picture of a sweet woman who was a dear friend of my Mother. She was, and presumably is, a Republican--I accept such membership in the Party of Lincoln. But, I can no longer give a pass to those who actively participate in the hateful, divisive, anti-American activities of the RADICAL Republican Party.
The leaders of this movement are engaged in a campaign to destroy the cohesion of our the nation. Decent members of the G.O.P. owe it to their nation and to their own sense of humanity to disavow membership in this party of intolerance and hate so long as it dances to the tune of the current agenda-setters of that party.
Recall that once your party answered the clarion call of OUR "better angels". Today it has become a shill for corporate masters and peddlers of intolerance.
From time to time we all lose our way.
E Pluribus Unum.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
I'll Take Door Number Three
The results are in. Those with a say, say it's time to toll bridge traffic. The deliberative process surrounding the question of how to pay for the Two Bridge Solution yielded the answer which can surprise no one.
So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's why I'm suggesting that when tolls are introduced, they should be imposed on all bridges, those built, as well as those only dreamed of.
The swaggering Mitch Daniels ,in high braggadocio, offered his take on the tolling plan, "We'll be using-as I often say-our favorite revenue source...other people's money." Following the Governor's lead,I suggest that any vehicle licensed in Floyd or Clark Counties in Indiana, and Jefferson County, Kentucky be exempt from tolls. And, rather than relying on electronic gizmos, such as transponders to winnow out the locals, I think we should use good old fashioned toll takers, members of the United Brotherhood of Ticket Takers, Turnstile Operators and Gatemen, since at least one side of the bridge will not land in a right-to-work state.
Drivers with local registrations would affix a sticker to their vehicles which would be plainly visible to the toll taker. A quick calculation yields the finding that, (assuming 30 toll booths staffed 24/7/365) about 180 people, including supervisors and maintenance, would need to be hired. At $16 per hour, the workers would earn about $8 million per year. Since this would all be paid by non-local drivers, that would represent growth to our local economy, and it would only equal about a week and a half of the gate, the handle, the action.
Another reason to toll all bridges is to even out the traffic flow. If only new bridges and The Kennedy bridge are tolled, a disproportionate share of bargain-hunting drivers would clog the Sherman Minton Bridge and bring all of the attendant problems of heavy traffic, such as smog and noise, to New Albany.
Since the current plan assumes a forty year duration for tolling, with local drivers included, the Pass-The-Buck tolling plan I propose would simply be a permanent fixture of our region. Learn to live with it.
So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's why I'm suggesting that when tolls are introduced, they should be imposed on all bridges, those built, as well as those only dreamed of.
The swaggering Mitch Daniels ,in high braggadocio, offered his take on the tolling plan, "We'll be using-as I often say-our favorite revenue source...other people's money." Following the Governor's lead,I suggest that any vehicle licensed in Floyd or Clark Counties in Indiana, and Jefferson County, Kentucky be exempt from tolls. And, rather than relying on electronic gizmos, such as transponders to winnow out the locals, I think we should use good old fashioned toll takers, members of the United Brotherhood of Ticket Takers, Turnstile Operators and Gatemen, since at least one side of the bridge will not land in a right-to-work state.
Drivers with local registrations would affix a sticker to their vehicles which would be plainly visible to the toll taker. A quick calculation yields the finding that, (assuming 30 toll booths staffed 24/7/365) about 180 people, including supervisors and maintenance, would need to be hired. At $16 per hour, the workers would earn about $8 million per year. Since this would all be paid by non-local drivers, that would represent growth to our local economy, and it would only equal about a week and a half of the gate, the handle, the action.
Another reason to toll all bridges is to even out the traffic flow. If only new bridges and The Kennedy bridge are tolled, a disproportionate share of bargain-hunting drivers would clog the Sherman Minton Bridge and bring all of the attendant problems of heavy traffic, such as smog and noise, to New Albany.
Since the current plan assumes a forty year duration for tolling, with local drivers included, the Pass-The-Buck tolling plan I propose would simply be a permanent fixture of our region. Learn to live with it.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Fragile
My wife's friend, who suffers from ALS, sent this to her and asked that she take a few moments to relax and enjoy it.
In light of today's devastation in our region, I am struck again by the fragility of life on this earth, the miracle of it, and our responsibility in protecting it.
In light of today's devastation in our region, I am struck again by the fragility of life on this earth, the miracle of it, and our responsibility in protecting it.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Sorry Charlie, Life's a Bitch
Convicted felon, Charlie White, Indiana's Secretary of State, has a friend in Mitch Daniels. To ease some of White's mental burden, le petite chief executive is holding the felon's job open by giving it to a place holder until the justice system's magic might return it to its not-rightful owner.
After all Charlie's life is, by his own admission, "complicated".
Hey Charlie, there are complications,
"White, 42, has said the charges ignored a complicated personal life in which he was trying to raise his 10-year-old son, plan his second marriage and campaign for the statewide office he won that November. He said he stayed at his ex-wife's house when he wasn't on the road campaigning and did not live in the condo until after he remarried." SEE LINK HERE
and there are complications,
10. Due to fiscal pressures, states are already making cuts to the safety net, and more are likely in the next several years.
With the 2009 stimulus package expired and revenues to state governments recovering slowly this year (due to the sluggish
recovery), many states (from Washington and California to Michigan and Florida) are making cuts to unemployment
insurance, temporary cash assistance, Medicaid benefits, and other services for low-income Americans. The fiscal pressureon some states may worsen before it eases. The pressure to restrain federal spending may cause Congress to reduce federal
fiscal relief for the states, which are already struggling to balance budgets in the face of rising Medicaid costs and depressed
revenues. If the federal government places more fiscal pressure on the states, which are required to balance their budgets,
then states are likely to consider additional cuts to cash assistance, Medicaid and other safety-net programs. States may also
be compelled to reduce funding for tax and educational policies that primarily benefit low-income populations. More state
cuts to the safety net should be expected unless the recovery – and the resulting growth rate of state revenues – accelerates SEE LINK HERE
With White's reinstatement, the way may be cleared for the continued disenfranchisement of low-income voters. SEE LINK HERE
That will make Charlie's life less complicated, since his is one of the few verified cases of voter fraud in Indiana.
After all Charlie's life is, by his own admission, "complicated".
Hey Charlie, there are complications,
"White, 42, has said the charges ignored a complicated personal life in which he was trying to raise his 10-year-old son, plan his second marriage and campaign for the statewide office he won that November. He said he stayed at his ex-wife's house when he wasn't on the road campaigning and did not live in the condo until after he remarried." SEE LINK HERE
and there are complications,
10. Due to fiscal pressures, states are already making cuts to the safety net, and more are likely in the next several years.
With the 2009 stimulus package expired and revenues to state governments recovering slowly this year (due to the sluggish
recovery), many states (from Washington and California to Michigan and Florida) are making cuts to unemployment
insurance, temporary cash assistance, Medicaid benefits, and other services for low-income Americans. The fiscal pressureon some states may worsen before it eases. The pressure to restrain federal spending may cause Congress to reduce federal
fiscal relief for the states, which are already struggling to balance budgets in the face of rising Medicaid costs and depressed
revenues. If the federal government places more fiscal pressure on the states, which are required to balance their budgets,
then states are likely to consider additional cuts to cash assistance, Medicaid and other safety-net programs. States may also
be compelled to reduce funding for tax and educational policies that primarily benefit low-income populations. More state
cuts to the safety net should be expected unless the recovery – and the resulting growth rate of state revenues – accelerates SEE LINK HERE
With White's reinstatement, the way may be cleared for the continued disenfranchisement of low-income voters. SEE LINK HERE
That will make Charlie's life less complicated, since his is one of the few verified cases of voter fraud in Indiana.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Seeds Are For Planting
Saturday January 21, my wife and I went to the Louisville Library to see/participate in the simulcast of the Tedx Manhattan event. It was interesting and informative until Steve Ritz took the stage in New York. At that point it became inspirational. I would urge anyone who sees this to watch the entire video. As Ritz says over and over "I'm not a farmer". Believe him. He's not a farmer; he's a hero in a time when that phrase is overused. And he's a role model for those who are not simply trying to grow vegetables but for those who are trying to grow communities. He's a true teacher, and not just for the students in his classroom.
If we consider the hand Ritz was dealt with his kids, the only logical choice was for him to fold. If we in New Albany consider where we sit in the waning days of January 2012 we might observe that the calendar is moving relentlessly toward our bicentennial celebration. This is not simply a tick on a calendar page, a one-off event where we put the kids in the car and drive to a place where a band plays patriotic songs, politicians speak of our founders, and our place in history "By the River's Edge". New Albany's bicentennial is not simply an opportunity to sell trinkets, nor is it a time for small ideas to deliver small results.
New Albany's bicentennial is our chance to speak to those who follow us in time to this place, a place we will not go. So far I have heard little of what we will bring to the party. To be sure, there is a committee in place to make some of the arrangements, and I hope their efforts bear worthy fruit. But the citizens of New Albany now cannot take a seat on the sidelines in planning for the upcoming anniversary.
In that spirit, I offer the following modest proposal: we should build a Bicentennial Park worthy of the momentous date we commemorate next year. I have heard discussion of a park on a tiny spit of land at the corner of Spring and Pearl Streets. Pocket parks are nice features for urban settings, they help break up the oppressive nature of street canyons surrounded by tall buildings, they provide a welcome refuge from the stressful pace of life in a big city. The current plan for the park, however, runs the danger of simply being a reminder of a previous generation's shortsightedness, a reminder of what is missing, one of city's most remarkable structures--the Post Office.
I believe the Bicentennial Park should help us show our children and our grandchildren why New Albany is here, and why it is special to us. It is difficult to convey civic sentiment through time. We do that by building for the future. If we would consider an alternate location for the Bicentennial Park, we could highlight how our history was shaped by the river. We could bring into sharper focus one of our extant remarkable buildings. We could provide a sizable, consequential green canvas on which current and future citizens could paint and enjoy a lasting commemoration of our two hundredth birthday. I believe we could best do that by building the Bicentennial Park at the corner of Bank and Main Streets.
This corner presently has a couple of forlorn structures fronting Main. With their removal, a large green lawn is revealed falling away from Main Street toward the levee, similar to the lawn of the Lanier House in Madison. With the two structures removed, the magnificent Indiana State Bank building ca. 1837 would be seen in splendid view. The Carnegie Center, visually more stunning since a panoramic view of it was opened with the removal of the building on the corner of Bank and Spring Streets, serves as a model of what could happen at this corner. The park could be tied in to the Greenway, it could feature a fountain, it could be a gathering place for events large and small. It could be an important feature of the commons, tying New Albany to its river past and its civic present, secured and built as a gift from us to those who follow, and who will, hopefully, celebrate other anniversaries of the city's founding.
The reason I connected the Bicentennial Park with the call to action by Steve Ritz is that his disregarded, pigeonholed, "loser" kids responded to his motivation. He saw in them something they probably didn't see in themselves and probably wouldn't have brought forth without his spark. Ritz's Bronx school and his community are better for his effort. He opened up dead-end lives. And, while New Albany will survive a mediocre bicentennial park, I believe we can do better. By focusing on the corner at Bank and Main we can build a much more fitting park to mark this special occasion. Others may have even better locations. Like Steve Ritz, we're not farmers. But, like Steve Ritz we need to ask more of this city than what some expect of our momentous occasion in 2013.
If we consider the hand Ritz was dealt with his kids, the only logical choice was for him to fold. If we in New Albany consider where we sit in the waning days of January 2012 we might observe that the calendar is moving relentlessly toward our bicentennial celebration. This is not simply a tick on a calendar page, a one-off event where we put the kids in the car and drive to a place where a band plays patriotic songs, politicians speak of our founders, and our place in history "By the River's Edge". New Albany's bicentennial is not simply an opportunity to sell trinkets, nor is it a time for small ideas to deliver small results.
New Albany's bicentennial is our chance to speak to those who follow us in time to this place, a place we will not go. So far I have heard little of what we will bring to the party. To be sure, there is a committee in place to make some of the arrangements, and I hope their efforts bear worthy fruit. But the citizens of New Albany now cannot take a seat on the sidelines in planning for the upcoming anniversary.
In that spirit, I offer the following modest proposal: we should build a Bicentennial Park worthy of the momentous date we commemorate next year. I have heard discussion of a park on a tiny spit of land at the corner of Spring and Pearl Streets. Pocket parks are nice features for urban settings, they help break up the oppressive nature of street canyons surrounded by tall buildings, they provide a welcome refuge from the stressful pace of life in a big city. The current plan for the park, however, runs the danger of simply being a reminder of a previous generation's shortsightedness, a reminder of what is missing, one of city's most remarkable structures--the Post Office.
I believe the Bicentennial Park should help us show our children and our grandchildren why New Albany is here, and why it is special to us. It is difficult to convey civic sentiment through time. We do that by building for the future. If we would consider an alternate location for the Bicentennial Park, we could highlight how our history was shaped by the river. We could bring into sharper focus one of our extant remarkable buildings. We could provide a sizable, consequential green canvas on which current and future citizens could paint and enjoy a lasting commemoration of our two hundredth birthday. I believe we could best do that by building the Bicentennial Park at the corner of Bank and Main Streets.
This corner presently has a couple of forlorn structures fronting Main. With their removal, a large green lawn is revealed falling away from Main Street toward the levee, similar to the lawn of the Lanier House in Madison. With the two structures removed, the magnificent Indiana State Bank building ca. 1837 would be seen in splendid view. The Carnegie Center, visually more stunning since a panoramic view of it was opened with the removal of the building on the corner of Bank and Spring Streets, serves as a model of what could happen at this corner. The park could be tied in to the Greenway, it could feature a fountain, it could be a gathering place for events large and small. It could be an important feature of the commons, tying New Albany to its river past and its civic present, secured and built as a gift from us to those who follow, and who will, hopefully, celebrate other anniversaries of the city's founding.
The reason I connected the Bicentennial Park with the call to action by Steve Ritz is that his disregarded, pigeonholed, "loser" kids responded to his motivation. He saw in them something they probably didn't see in themselves and probably wouldn't have brought forth without his spark. Ritz's Bronx school and his community are better for his effort. He opened up dead-end lives. And, while New Albany will survive a mediocre bicentennial park, I believe we can do better. By focusing on the corner at Bank and Main we can build a much more fitting park to mark this special occasion. Others may have even better locations. Like Steve Ritz, we're not farmers. But, like Steve Ritz we need to ask more of this city than what some expect of our momentous occasion in 2013.
Friday, January 13, 2012
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