Saturday, March 31, 2012

Nickel and Dimed

     An article in today’s Morning Call detailed the attempts of a group of people in Easton to have Nickel and Dimed, a book by Barbara Ehrenreich, removed from the school’s reading list.  In the book Ehrenreich details her adventures working in minimum wage jobs such as waitress, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and a salesperson at Wal-Mart.  
     Ehrenreich assumed that she would spend her money wisely.  She was an experienced economist, and she would do ok.  What she soon realized was that people working without a union at a dead end job with no benefits were caught in an endless cycle of living from payday to payday, a paycheck away from being homeless.
     The book was one of the best I have ever read on life at the bottom of the economic scale, and I learned a great deal.  For example, why do so many of the working poor live in run-down motels paying week to week?  Surely this is not a good economic strategy.  Ehrenreich explains that to move into an apartment, you often need first and last month’s rent.  At a minimum wage job, there is no way to accumulate that amount of money.
     The people who complained about the book brought up all kinds of irrelevant arguments, but I am sure their real objective was to stop kids from reading about life on the bottom.  It doesn’t fit with the Romney-Santorum view of Americans living in prosperity.  
     Hats off to the Easton School Board, which listened to the students who defended the book.  Another positive is that more people became aware of the book and now might read it.  It is available in paperback.

Friday, March 30, 2012

The mandate issue

One of the major roadblocks to the Health Care bill and one of the reasons it will probably be declared unconstitutional is because of the “individual mandate” that requires a purchase of insurance.  Almost every economist agrees it is necessary to mandate that people buy insurance for the same reason people are mandated to buy car insurance.  If it isn’t required, free riders will overwhelm the system.
The difference between requiring individuals to buy insurance, on the one hand, or requiring them to pay a tax and then providing a service (like Medicare) escapes me.  
Here is what Paul Krugman wrote about the mandate in today’s New York Times:
      Indeed, conservatives used to like the idea of required purchases as an alternative to taxes, which is why the idea for the mandate originally came not from liberals but from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation.  (By the way, another pet conservative project--private accounts to replace Social Security--relies on, yes, mandatory contributions from individuals.)
Let’s hope that at least five members of the Supreme Court can rise above their partisanship and find the law constitutional.  Given the Court’s decisions in the 2000 election and the Citizens United cases, I wouldn’t bet on it.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Information on candidates

At a retirement party for Palmerton Area Librarian Dorothy Strohl this afternoon, a friend  asked me where she could go to get objective material on the candidates.  Candidates do have signs posted around the area, but most of them simply give the name.  She said she wasn’t even sure which candidate was running for what office.
Unfortunately, there’s no great source of objective information on candidates.  The Times News may run profiles close to the election, but I would’t trust that paper on anything related to politics.  (Or reviews of acts appearing at Penn’s Peak, for that matter.)  Local television is a joke, and the candidates’ websites are obviously not neutral, plus you have to find them.
The Pennsylvania League of Women Voters does have website that will help you with some candidates, but candidates write their own material and not all candidates have links.  Still, you may find it helpful.  Go to <http://palwv.org/voting/vote.html> and click on Smart Voter.org near the top of the page.
One problem with any truly objective info source is that it won’t seem objective if it tells the truth.  Suppose I told you that during the Obama Administration, the U.S. has lowered its dependence on foreign oil.  That’s actually true, but it would make Republicans howl.  Suppose I told you that Representative Doyle Heffley voted for a bill that forces Pennsylvania women seeking abortions to submit to an intrusive ultrasound.  That’s also true, but I doubt if Heffley is trumpeting that fact.  
Actually, don’t bother with the League.  Just email me.  I’ll tell you who to vote for.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Poland sets an example

If this were a perfect world, Republican candidates would be criticizing President Obama for signing the defense appropriations bill that permits a president to arrest and hold an American citizen indefinitely on suspicion that he or she may be a terrorist.  They would be criticizing the President for not prosecuting American officials who tortured prisoners.
It’s not a perfect world.
So let’s give a cheer for Poland, a country that takes its constitution seriously.  According to an article in today’s New York Times entitled “Polish Ex-Official Charged With Aiding C.I.A. on Secret Prisons, Report Says,” Poland is taking action against an official who helped the C.I.A. set up a secret prison where Qaeda suspects were subject to torture, “unlawfully depriving prisoners of their liberties.”

“We try to treat our Constitution seriously and try not to forget the fact that there was a manifest violation of the Polish Constitution within the country’s borders.”  This was the statement by Adam Bodnar, V.P. of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Righta, based in Warsaw.  
President Obama said we didn’t want to look back, but forward.  The Poles say it is necessary to prosecute past abuses so they don’t happen in the future.  The Poles are looking forward.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Cycling Through Africa

In 2008 we hosted a number of Obama volunteers from New York and Connecticut who came down to Pennsylvania to help out in the campaign.  One of them, a woman from Connecticut, said she planned to bike from our house on Pohopoco to our headquarters in Lehighton.  I said, “I don’t think you understand.  Lehighton is 10 miles away.”
That is when I learned that for Heather, ten miles was a piece of cake.  She led biking tours that covered thousands of miles.  I did worry about her biking on 209, but sometimes she took the back way through Weissport.  When she came home after a hard day at the Obama Headquarters, she went to her room to work on a book she was writing.
She stopped by today on her way home from a lobbying trip to Washington and brought a copy of the book.  It details a biking trip through southern Africa and is entitled “I Never Intended to Be Brave:  A Woman’s Bicycle Journey Through Southern Africa” by Heather Andersen.  The book is published by Windy City Publishers in Chicago.  You can read the first chapter on her website <www.bicyclingheather.com>.  You can also buy the book through your local bookstore or at Amazon.
I just received the book today, but after reading the first chapter, I highly recommend it.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Governor Corbett

Long time readers of this blog know that I strive to be reasonable, to be judicious, to always be fair, and never to indulge in name-calling or insults.  Having said that, it is my opinion that Governor Corbett is an idiot.
The governor’s proposed budget cuts Penn State (my alma mater) and other state universities by as much as 30%.  Does this governor think that jobs and investments flow to states with an uneducated workforce?  Does he really think that Pennsylvania will benefit from these cuts?  Does he think that the resulting higher tuition bills will aid our students?  
Maybe he agrees with Republican presidential candidate Santorum that people who attend college are snobs.  Or maybe he is an idiot. In any case this state is on a downhill slide, and our governor is a major factor.  

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Theories of Reprentation

Today at a spaghetti lunch sponsored by the Palmerton Area Democratic Club at the Big Creek Grange a representative from Congressman Tim Holden’s campaign said that Holden’s votes in Congress attempted to represent the views of his constituents.  
Political scientist that I am, I immediately thought of the theories of representation.  Holden’s idea that a representative should do what his or her constituents want is called the delegate theory of representation.  A representative is sent to congress to echo the views of the voters who elected him or her.
Edmund Burke, who wrote a letter to his constituents explaining why he supported the American revolutionaries even though it hurt people in his district who depended on cotton imports, articulated the trustee theory of representation.  This theory says that a representative should vote the way his or her conscience dictates, even if the constituents disagree with the vote.
A third theory of representation is called the politico theory of representation.  This theory hold that a representative votes in whatever way will get him or her reelected.  Representatives in this category, for example, might vote for legislation that is opposed by their constituents and they might personally object to, but it brings in big bucks from campaign contributors.
My guess is that Senator Argall and Representative Heffley, if they think about this at all, are in the politico category.  

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Dogs and groundhogs and kids

Let me see if I got this straight.
According to an article in today’s Times News, a farmer in Bucks County was sentenced up to 23 months in prison for shooting a dog that had attacked his neighbor’s pets.  Had he called a vet to kill it, he would have received no penalty.
This same farmer could shoot as many groundhogs as he wanted to.  No penalty accrues for killing groundhogs, a mammal not all that different from a dog.  He could also, assuming he applied for the correct licenses, kill bears, fish, deer, squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, ducks, geese, and elk.  He could be charged with animal cruelty for shooting a feral cat, even if he is trying to protect bird species that are endangered.
And in Florida, you can kill a kid as long as you claim you felt threatened, and you won’t even be arrested.  
You have to admit, this is really strange.

Friday, March 23, 2012

The end of the Ag Preservation Program in PA?

The Towamensing Township Agricultural Security Board met today at the Township Municipal Building on Stable Road.  I’m the Board secretary.  The Board accepts farms into the Agricultural Security Area, which means a farmer can’t be sued for “normal agricultural operations.”  For example, if a farmer spreads manure on his or her fields, a neighbor can’t sue him or her for the smell.  
Joining the Ag Security Area is also the first step to sign up for the Farmland Preservation Program.  This is the program that evaluates the farm as farmland and as development potential.  It then pays the farmer the difference in the two appraisals in return for a deed restriction that stipulates the land may never be developed.  Ever.  The program was financed by a tax on cigarettes, which is the reason I encouraged people to smoke.
At today’s meeting of the Ag Security Board, member Glenn Beers told us that he heard that starting in the next state budget, cigarette tax money would be plowed into the general fund and the Ag preservation program would be defunded.  
This is so short-sighted.  Linda and I have 13 acres in Ag Preservation.  That land generates no students, no garbage, no demands for any type of services.  As Mr. Beers pointed out, if the Palmerton School District had bought development rights on farmland 30 years ago, our school taxes and our township taxes would be much lower.  Now Corbett proposes to eliminate the whole program.  I don’t know if Corbett is the worst governor Pennsylvania ever had, but he has to be near the top.  What an idiot.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Plea bargaining and the Rutgers case

Last night I noted that I planned to write about plea bargaining.  By an incredible coincidence, the front page headline of today’s New York Times trumpeted:  “Justices Expand Right of Accused in Plea Bargains.”  
As readers are probably aware, very few criminal cases are decided by a jury trial.  According to the article, last year 97% of federal cases were decided by a negotiated plea of guilty.  Judges like it--their calendars are cleared.  Prosecutors like it--they get a conviction.  Defense attorneys usually like it--they get paid and do not have to prepare for trial.  Even criminals like it--they get a lesser sentence than if they had a trial.  On the other hand, if you are not guilty, think what you would do if the prosecutor said, “Plead guilty and get community service.  Go to trial and if you are found guilty, you can get up to ten years.”
This means that our “justice” system is controlled by prosecutors.  Their discretionary power is amazing.  In the Rutgers case a student filmed his gay roommate’s sexual activity and shared the film.  The roommate later committed suicide.  The filming was despicable.  The student should have been punished.  Nevertheless, the gap between community service (which he was offered) and ten years in jail (which he received at the end of the the trial he demanded) is a travesty of justice.
Justice Kennedy in the decision discussed in today's paper said, “The right to adequate assistance of counsel cannot be defined or enforced without taking account of the central role plea bargaining takes in securing convictions and determining sentences.”  I would have gone much further.  I would have ruled that the difference between a negotiated plea and jury verdict cannot be disproportionate.  What is disproportionate could be defined by further litigation.
The Court's decision on effective counsel for plea bargaining was 5-4.  Scalia, Roberts, Alito, and Thomas were the four.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Children in jail

The debate on lowering the voting age to 18 was often framed this way:  “If you are old enough to fight, you are old enough to vote.”  That is a strange argument.  The ideal soldier, when ordered to charge up the hill, obeys without questioning the order.  We don’t want the soldier to say, “but Sarge, they have rifles and they are shooting at me.  I don’t think that’s such a hot idea.  Let’s discuss it.”
On the other hand, you want a voter to be thoughtful, to weigh issues, to make rational choices.  I’m not advocating raising the voting age from 18 to 25; I am saying that we ought to recognize that there is no specific age when adulthood is attained.  We can get a driver’s license at 16, vote at 18, drink at 21, run for the House at 25, the Senate at 30, and for President at 35.  I personally would feel very uncomfortable about an 18-year-old as President.  I’ve been 18, and as I remember, I did not always use good judgement.
An Easton boy named Qu’Eed Batts was 14 when he shot and killed another teenager in a gang initiation.  He was sentenced to life in prison.  Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli was quoted in the March 20 issue of the Morning Call on this issue.  He said, “An offender under age 18 who is capable of intentionally taking a human life and who has done so is a danger to the community, and life in prison is an appropriate punishment.”
No, it isn’t.  Fourteen-year-old kids do really stupid things, even murder.  The Batts kid deserves punishment, therapy, rehab, and education, but life in prison is not acceptable.    I’m not sure that life in prison is an appropriate sentence at any age.  I do know that Mr. Morganelli should be voted out of office.
Tomorrow:  Plea bargaining and the Rutgers case

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Voter Registration at Rita's

On the first day of spring Rita’s Italian Ices gives away free samples.  People will drive for miles and spend 45 minutes in a line to get a free Italian ice.  We thought this would present a great opportunity to register voters--they are happy people with plenty of time to fill out registration forms while they wait for the line to wend its way up to the windows.
We had good results.  We registered everyone who wanted to sign up, including Republicans and Independents, and we netted 11 Democrats.  My sign said “Register to vote: Be somebody.”  People were pleasant, as you might expect in an ice cream line.
I’ve done this kind of thing before, so I wasn’t all that surprised, but I was still depressed by the number of people who were not registered and refused to register.  I didn’t want to cause a scene, and the rule is never argue, but sometimes I just want to shake them and say, “Look, idiot, don’t you understand that this country will always be run on behalf of the rich if people like you don’t vote?”  I want to scream, “People die for the right to vote.”  I want to insult them:  “If you are that stupid, maybe it is best you don’t vote.”  
I never do any of that.  I smile and say, “I hope someday you’ll change your mind.  Enjoy your ice cream.”  I must focus on the positive--11 more Dems.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Rutherford B. Hayes

The Times News tonight carried a long editorial by Jim Zbick critical of President Obama for making a joke about Rutherford B. Hayes.  According to Mr. Zbick, the President said Hayes said of the telephone: "It's a great invention but who would ever want to use one.  Zbick then spent an entire column explaining that Hayes had never said this, was a war hero, was better than Obama ever would be, and ended by castigating Obama for rising gas prices, deficits, and the health care bill.  
I couldn't let this one pass unanswered.  Here's the email I just sent to Mr. Zbick:
Dear Mr. Zbick,
Thank God at a time when we are facing attacks on contraception, billion dollar cuts to Pennsylvania schools, an election system warped by SuperPacs, global warming, a rise in American hate groups, and environmental degradation, there are still men like you willing to step forward to defend President Rutherford B. Hayes.  Your sense of priorities is an inspiration to us all.  You are a profile in courage. 

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Gas prices

Even President Obama’s most bitter opponents don’t believe he is a stupid man.  They weave all kinds of conspiracy theories and paranoid fantasies, but they never say that the President is stupid.
Anyone with a lick of sense also knows that rising gas prices will hurt Obama’s reelection campaign.  In fact, the President has dropped a few points in the polls since gas prices started to rise.
Stay with me here.  We have a smart president who wants to be reelected.  Is he really working to make prices rise at the gas pump?  Does he want higher gas prices at this particular time?  Does he even have any control over gas prices?  (And please don’t bring up that pipeline, which has absolutely nothing to do with gasoline prices.)
I’m always amazed how people can hold conflicting opinions.  I learned about cognitive dissonance in my intro psych course, but the word “cognitive” implies thinking.  Millions of Americans don’t suffer from cognitive dissonance because they never actually think.

P.S.:   I just learned from a reader that a Republican Senator up for recall in Wisconsin has resigned from the Senate, making the Senate 50-50.  Wow.  (And thanks for the info, Mr. White.)

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Abortion information

Gail Collins notes in today’s New York Times that the New Hampshire House passed a bill that women who want an abortion must be told that abortions were linked to “an increased risk of breast cancer.”  
That is completely false, but it seems to be one of those urban myths that everyone keeps repeating.  Basically, the New Hampshire legislature intends to force doctors to lie to women who want abortions.  
Here is something that is actually true.  Women who receive legal abortions have a much lower mortality rate than women who carry to term.  That’s a fact.  I have yet to hear of one of these states that is requiring ultrasounds and lectures and waiting periods to mandate that women who want an abortion be told that fact.  

Friday, March 16, 2012

It makes my head hurt

Too many times Republicans don’t think, they merely repeat mantras.  One of these mantras is that government doesn’t create jobs, only the private sector creates jobs.  Julia Hathaway, Secretary of Labor and Industry and a Corbett appointee, spoke to the Palmerton Area Chamber of Commerce at at the Blue Ridge Country Club.  She was quoted in today’s Times-News as saying, “It’s no secret; government does not create jobs, you do.”
This is so dumb it makes my head hurt.  What are teachers, turnpike workers, police, park rangers? Chopped liver?  One of the reasons unemployment remains high is because of the lay-offs of public workers.  We all suffer from this.  Larger classes in schools, fewer firefighters and police, not as many garbage collectors, longer lines at the DMV--all are the result of cutbacks.
Ms. Hathaway also said, “This is a government that wants to help.  We want to know what is working, what is not working, and do whatever it takes to make Pennsylvania prosper.”  What absolute bunk.
I’ll just give you one factoid.  I know a woman who works with students trying to get their G.E.D.s in Carbon County.  These are people who, for whatever reason, did not graduate from high school, but now are working for their equivalent degree.  Ambitious people.  People trying to better themselves.  My friend said that last year in Carbon County approximately 180 students received their G.E.D.s.  This year, because of Corbett cutbacks and new restrictions, the number is 17.
Really, it makes my head hurt.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Lehigh Gap Nature Center

Dan Kunkle, Director of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, spoke to the Palmerton Area Democratic Club on Monday night.  Mr. Kunkle made the group aware of just what a jewel we have along the Lehigh in Southern Carbon County.  
He pointed out that the denuded Blue Mountain had been treeless for so long that area residents assumed it had always been that way, but he showed a picture of the Lehigh Gap around 1900 before the advent of the Zinc Company.  The entire Gap was heavily forested.
Mr. Kunkle then explained how the Nature Center saw this as an opportunity rather than a problem.  Volunteers planted grass seeds--grass, unlike trees, does not absorb the cadmium, lead, and zinc, but leaves them in the soil and out of the food chain.  He also noted that of all the Superfund sites in the United States, the Palmerton Superfund site is the only one that features a nature center.
I have been to the Center on two occasions and have hiked a number of its trails.  The Center is free, the trails are varied, and the views are spectacular.  If you are a reader who lives in Carbon County who has not yet visited the Center, you should.  If you plan a trip to this area, make the Center one of your stops.  
To visit the Center on-line, go to <www.lgnc.org>.
P.S.:  I have not seen them yet, but Mr. Kunkle said that river otters have been spotted on Center property.  I would so like to see a river otter.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Two thoughts

Here are two thoughts for the day, and then I’m going to bed.
I still don’t know who won Mississippi and Alabama and who came in second and who came in third, but I don’t give a B.R.A., since every candidate who is running on the Republican ticket is a total disaster for our country's future.
If you drink enough wine, it doesn’t matter how bad it is.

(B.R.A. stands for Big Rat's Ass, but you knew that.)


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Wyoming--the Equality State

For years I explained to students that the Wyoming legislators extended the suffrage to women because they wanted to attract women immigrants to a frontier state.  Today, reading Anna Shaw’s The Story of a Pioneer, (c. 1915) I learned the correct version.
A member of the legislature, grateful to a midwife named Esther Morris for helping in a difficult birth, asked if there was anything he could do for her.  She told him she’d like him to introduce a bill enfranchising women.  He did, and the Democratic legislature, thinking the whole thing a huge joke, passed the bill to embarrass the Republican governor, who would have to veto the bill.
The governor, originally from Ohio, had heard a speech by Susan B. Anthony when he was a boy, and signed it.  The following year a Democrat introduced a bill to repeal the policy, but by that time public sentiment had changed to favor women’s suffrage.
Here’s the part that I thought was absolutely wonderful. 
When Wyoming applied for statehood in 1890, some people were afraid the women’s suffrage policy might jeopardize the chances for admission.  A number of Wyoming women sent this telegram to Joseph M. Carey, one of the men behind Wyoming statehood:  “Drop us if you must.  We can trust the men of Wyoming to enfranchise us after our territory becomes a state.”
Mr. Carey discussed the idea with other men who were urging statehood and sent back this reply:  “We may stay out of the Union a hundred years, but we will come in with our women.”
I must confess, that makes me all verklempt.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Giving credit where it is due

A large number of bloggers and many on-line news publications are “content aggregators.”  They don’t actually gather news but rather depend on publications like the New York Times or the Washington Post to provide their material.  In a recent documentary on the New York Times, a member of the Times staff held up a a printed issue of the Huffington Post with the copied parts cut out.  The entire page consisted of gaping holes.  
Copying someone’s work without attribution is called plagiarism.  It is a mortal sin in college.  I knew a tenured professor who was summarily fired for plagiarizing a portion of one of his books, and he should have been fired.  On the web, however, plagiarism is common and hardly ever discussed.
David Carr in today’s New York Times reported on the efforts of one Simon Dumenco to set some standards on what can be copied and how it should be credited.  Mr. Dumenco is forming the Council on Ethical Blogging and Aggregation to work on the problem. 
If you read this blog regularly, you know that I get many of my topics and ideas from sources like the New York Times (today is a perfect example), Lancaster Farming, Sierra, The Nation, and a number of other publications.  About one-third to one-half of the posts might be original, but much of the commentary is inspired by what I read.
I have been reasonably responsible about giving credit, but I will make a pledge to my readers.  If I get my ideas or information from another source, you will be told of that source.  I won’t always give you a link, but with any kind of effort you should be able to find the original.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Ocean acidification

While Romney is off winning delegates in Guam and Santorum is fighting against women’s health in Kansas, here’s something else for you to think about.
In an article published in the March 2, 2012, issue of Science, researchers found that pH of the entire ocean is changing.  They write that this phenomenon, which they call a “global environmental perturbation,” has no parallel in the last 300 million years.  They blame the problem on the increase in man-made carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.
The acidification may already be affecting the fragile coral reefs around the world, and it will surely have major consequences in the future.  
By the way, it is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

The auto industry bailout

The auto Industry bailout worked.  GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all doing well.  Thousands of men and women are at work building cars; Detroit and the state of Michigan have benefited, and suppliers and dealers across America owe their livelihood to the bailout.  The government has been repaid for its faith in the American auto industry.  We should all be happy.
Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, and Paul have all been attacking the bailout, and in spite of the clear success of the program, these attacks are succeeding.  In February a Gallup poll posed this question:  “Do you approve of the auto bailout?”  
Ready for the answer?  51 percent said no; 44% said yes.  Republicans disapproved by 73%.  So three out of four Republicans wanted hundreds of thousands of Americans to be unemployed, three major companies to go bankrupt, and the American auto industry destroyed because of their ideological rigidity.
Grandma Wingo (a real person from Elsinore, Missouri) used to say, “A Republican can’t enjoy a meal unless he knows that somewhere someone else is starving.”  That 73% figure says she was right.

Friday, March 9, 2012

The United States Post Office

Business is not my forte, but I know that if your business is losing customers, you might want to increase customer service and decrease the price of your goods.  The post office is doing the opposite--raising the prices and cutting Saturday deliveries, local post offices, and regional distribution centers.  
Jim Hightower, author of the newsletter “Hightower Lowdown” has an answer to the charge that the Post Office is unprofitable.  As he puts it, so what.  
He points out that the Pentagon never makes a profit, nor does the Center for Disease Control, the FBI, or the State Department.  Making a profit is not the goal of government agencies, service is.  The post office was considered a government service from Ben Franklin’s days to 1971, when the Nixon administration decided that the service should be run like a business (AIG?, Enron?) and make its money from stamps.
Here’s what the “Hightower Lowdown” says:
The post office is more than a bunch of buildings--it’s a community center and, for many towns, an essential part of the local identity, as well as a tangible link to the rest of the nation.  As former Sen. Jennings Randolph poignantly observed, ‘When the local post office is closed, the flag comes down.” The corporatizer crowd doesn’t grasp that going after this particular government program is messing with the human connection and genuine affection that it engenders.
One of the post offices slated to be closed is the Franklin Post Office in Philadelphia.  In 1775 the Continental Congress adopted Franklin’s proposal to establish a national post office.
You might want to check out the website <www.SaveThePostOfffice.com>y.  It has suggestions for action.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

A letter to my state senator

Senator Dave Argall
Sen. Box 203027
16E Main Capitol
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3029
Dear Senator Argall:
I have spoken to you a number of times; once you put me in touch with a state Department of Agriculture official about a farm preservation issue.  I know you are intelligent.  I always assumed you were also reasonable.  
That makes my disappointment and anger even greater.  You belong to a party that adopted a “fee” on natural gas that is even less than the tax Texas and West Virginia levy.  You voted for this fee.  
Your party adopted a bill under the guise of a woman’s right to know that degrades women who want an abortion.  You know, as well as I do, that this was simply a ploy to make it more difficult to undertake a legal medical procedure.  You voted for this bill.
You adopted a voter suppression bill that requires a picture ID to vote under the guise of protecting the voting process against non-existent fraud.  You know this will make it more difficult for the young, the very old, and housewives to vote, and you know full well that will depress the Democratic vote.  You voted for this bill.
Your party advocates selling the state wine and spirits stores, a source of good paying jobs, a socially-useful system, and a good source of revenue.
Your party has slashed school spending while fully aware that our children need a good education in order to compete in the modern world.
Frankly, I don’t understand this kind of thinking, this kind of action, these votes.  I have lost respect for you and your party.  I don’t think at this point there is much you could do to get it back.  
Sincerely,
  
Roy Christman

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Santorum's worst nightmare


In my career as college professor, I taught American government classes in four universities and three community colleges.  And just as Rickie probably suspected, I’m a liberal, pro-union, pro-gay rights, feminist, environmentalist, atheist.  What he really would hate, though, is that I always tried to teach my students to think for themselves.  
They had to write papers on controversial issues and discuss those issues in class.  They debated, considered opposing viewpoints, heard guest speakers with differing opinions, and read pro and con articles on political topics.
Students in their late teens and early twenties are not necessarily more liberal politically, but they are more likely to question authority--any authority.  Any good college course will take advantage of that tendency and encourage it.  
Santorum is noted for home-schooling his children--all seven of them.  I’d be willing to bet that there was less home-schooling than indoctrination.  About 1.5 million kids were home-schooled in 2007, the last year the Department of Education made an estimate.  According to columnist Frank Bruni, when parents were asked why, the most common reply centered around moral and spiritual reasons.  
I believe that parents who home-school their children for moral reasons only want their children to hear their morality.  I’m sure they teach their kids that their morals are absolute and everyone else is wrong.  There’s only one side, and it is their side. 
I have a feeling if Santorum had been in one of my courses, he would have dropped in the first week.  He is a guy who doesn’t like to think and doesn’t like people who do.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Super Tuesday

When I turned on my computer just now, I learned that Gingrich is projected to win in Georgia.  Go Newt!
Here’s what I hope.  Romney wins one or two, Santorum wins a few, Paul wins some delegates, and Gingrich does well.  Then we go on to the next round, and the nastiness continues.  In fact, I hope they keep fighting until the Republican Convention.  Actually, it would be wonderful if they kept fighting after the Convention.
Remember four years ago when Clinton and Obama were competing for the Democratic nomination.  They were so civilized about it.  Oh yeah, they were Democrats.
A note to readers:
A number of people have told me that they wanted to be added as followers so they could post comments, but they had problems.  If you are a reader and want to “follow” Sajeonogi but are having trouble signing on, tell me.  Send an email to <hiramc@ptd.net>.  Let me know the kind of computer and operating system you have and detail what you did as best you can.  Thanks.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Prayer

Long time readers of this blog know I’m an atheist who occasionally attends church services.  I like the hymns, and it is part of my heritage.  On Sunday I stopped in at the Lutheran Church service in Trachsville.  That’s the church where my grandmother sang on the choir, and my mother taught Sunday School, and where I was baptized and will be buried.
Part of the service is “Prayers for Intercession.”  These prayers are sent out by the national Lutheran organization.  On Sunday, this was a portion of the prayer:
Let us pray for this planet we call home; for the oceans we have polluted with oil; for the land we have piled with garbage; and for the species we have endangered.
Let us pray for the multitude of nations; for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others of different faiths than our own; and for those without a community of faith.  
Let us pray for couples longing for children, for families that are separated; for children in foster care; for people with disabilities; and for all in need of healing.
My personal feeling is that nobody hears these prayers, but I like that congregations are praying them.  Perhaps the prayers will influence the people who are saying the prayers.  That’s worth something.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Dr. Shaw and Women's Suffrage

Elizabeth Howard Shaw, D.D., M.D., published an autobiography in 1915 entitled The Story of a Pioneer.  The Palmerton Area Library sells old books in the basement, and for reasons unknown, I bought the book.  I’m about half way through it, and it is fascinating.    Miss Shaw became a preacher (the only woman in her class at the seminary in Boston),  then earned a medical degree, and ended up as a soldier in the woman’s suffrage movement.
Here’s what she wrote: 
     We were entering upon a deeply significant period.  For the first time women were going into industrial competition with men, and already men were intensely resenting their presence.  Around me I saw women overworked and underpaid, doing men’s work at half men’s wages, not because their work was inferior, but because they were women.  Again, too, I studied the obtrusive problems of the poor and of the women of the streets; and, looking at the whole situation from every angle, I could find but one solution for women--the removal of the stigma of disfranchisement.  As man’s equal before the law, woman could demand her rights, asking favors from no one.  (pp. 151-152).
The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, 92 years ago.  And we still get candidates like Rickie Santorum.  We still get proposals like the one before the Pennsylvania legislature mandating intrusive vaginal ultrasounds.  We get Rush Limbaugh calling a college student a slut for testifying on birth control.
I think Dr. Elizabeth Shaw would be very disappointed. I am.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

"Broken Windows"

When I lived at 459 North Fourth Street in San Jose, I sent my council member a copy of an article in The Atlantic called “Broken Windows” by James Q. Wilson.  Dr. Wilson’s thesis was that small “quality of life” issues like graffiti or panhandlers, left unchecked, would lead to major crime.  
Dr. Wilson thought that so-called “victimless crimes” like public drunkenness, would result in more serious crimes, since criminals, observing that this was a neighborhood of lawlessness, would move in.  One broken window, not fixed, was a message that this was a neighborhood where people no longer cared.
I took Dr. Wilson’s idea to heart.  I was a one-man anti-graffiti squad, removing graffiti from my neighborhood in San Jose, and later, in subsequent moves, in San Leandro, Danville, and Fairfax. 
Wilson’s theory’s on crime influenced many urban police forces, including the New York City police policies under Mayor Giuliani. To me Dr. Wilson’s ideas on “broken windows,” made perfect sense.  If you let the little crimes go unanswered, bigger crimes follow.  

Dr. Wilson died yesterday.  He was a social scientist who tried to solve problems by looking at real-world data.  He certainly influenced my thinking.

Friday, March 2, 2012

New Rules for the Capitol

New rules have been issued on demonstrating inside the Pennsylvania Capitol.  You need a state-issued ID card in order to have access to the corridors near the governor.  Lobbyists are among the people who are issued the cards.  
Ordinary citizens trying to petition their governor for redress of grievances aren’t allowed in the corridors, but Marcellus Shale lobbyists are approved.  That just about sums up the attitude of the Corbett administration.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Demo HQ proposal

The Democratic Party in Carbon County is homeless.  The Executive Board meets in the basement of an inn in Jim Thorpe, our clubs meet in restaurants and nursing homes, and we have no place to store campaign materials, train volunteers, or run phone banks.
I had this idea that we would find 100 progressive people in Carbon County to donate $100 annually to rent a headquarters on a long-term lease.  (My first idea was to bank the money until we had a down payment and actually buy a headquarters, but people pointed out that we needed one now.)  The headquarters would be located in Lehighton, Jim Thorpe, or Nesquehoning on a main street, it would be handicapped accessible, and it would be relatively inexpensive.  I figured $500 a month rent plus $150 a month for utilities, with the Party’s insurance providing liability protection.
In January I began asking for pledges.  I quickly realized that $100 was too much for some people in Carbon County, so I decided to accept pledges for $25 or $50 as well.
In February I presented the proposal to the County Executive Board, and the members endorsed the concept by an overwhelming vote.  A committee to investigate possible office spaces was appointed, and we have looked at potential rentals in all three towns.
Here is the problem.  The pledges are not exactly pouring in.  We do have a fat cat in California (who is actually very svelte) who pledged the first month’s rent, but the total pledges so far are just over $3000, not quite a third of what I thought we’d need.  
Any suggestions?