REPUBLICAN SUPREMES BED DOWN WITH CORPORATE AMERICA

In a convulsion of activisim, the Republican Supreme Court clan has handed an astonishing victory to big corporate America.  In a 5-4 decision, all Republican appointees to the Supreme Court came squarely down on the side of big business by sweeping away limits on campaign spending that makes the now-existing monetary chasm between corporate America and the average citizen a canyon of enormous proportions.

The Founding Fathers had a fear of corporate power having been under the thumb of corporate rule from England.  And American citizens also distrusted corporate entities – legislatures held tight control over corporations until the mid-1800s.

Corporate law at the time was focused on protection of the public interest, and not on the interests of corporate shareholders. Corporate charters were closely regulated by the states; forming a corporation usually required an act of legislature.  The penalty for abuse or misuse of the corporate charter was not a plea bargain and a fine, but dissolution of the corporation.

With the advent of the industrial age, corporate power grew with the shift from an agrarian society to a wage-earner based society.  Corporate owners amassed fortunes, using their powers to buy legislators who weakened laws that had previously limited corporate influence.  In Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 118 U.S. 394 (1886), the United States Supreme Court recognized the corporation as a ‘natural person’ under law – albeit in a statement of obiter dictum. The Court intimated in its statement that corporations were entitled to protection under the 14th amendment – an amendment originally passed to protect emancipated slaves in the hostile south.

Corporations are mere legal entities – fictions created by law.  They are not human beings – they cannot vote, they cannot drive a car, they cannot have families, and on and on.  They lack virtually every trait that human beings possess, yet somehow, somewhere along the path of advancing industrialization and power grabs by “robber barons”, corporations became “persons” for the purpose of the Constitution’s 14th amendment protections.

With flippant disregard for the realities of the true identity of corporations and the magnitude of corporate spending power, the Supreme Court Republican “Gang of Five” has fallen into bed with corporate powers.  The instigator in the case, Citizens United, touts on its website a laughable statement, “Dedicated to Restoring our Government to Citizen Control.”

Surely they jest!  Sweeping away limits on corporate contributions certainly does not in any sense return “government to citizen control.”  The decision simply creates even more power and control in corporate entities.  Some will argue that unions will benefit from this decision as well.  Unions will benefit; however, unions hold nowhere near the power and control that is exercised by corporations.

In 2009, the union membership rate for public sector workers (37.4 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private industry workers (7.2 percent).   In total, union membership only reaches 44.6% of workers.  Simply allowing unions to contribute just as corporations do does not equalize the situation.   Corporate influence is now at 100% while union influence – public and private – is at only 44.6%.

The Court has masked its support of corporate power by relying on the old bugaboo of infringing on “free speech.”  Cutting its ties with previous decisions limiting the ability of corporations to influence elections by tossing out millions of dollars in campaign contributions, the Court has disregarded the Founding Fathers rationale behind free speech as crucial in a democracy.   In the marketplace of ideas, free speech is considered essential for voters to make informed selections during elections.

The Republican clique on the Supreme Court has continued the Bush administration’s catering and kowtowing to corporate powers – a trend that will leave American citizens with diminishing control over the election process while increasing corporate ability to buy elections.

If the Wall Street bailout was a disaster for American citizens then unfettered corporate access to buying elections may very well be the ruin of the election process as we know it.

Can a piece of paper equal citizen voting power?

INDIANA – HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

As the winter deepens, as the cold chills to the bone, as the wind bites the exposed skin, as the sky drops measures of snow, sleet, and ice, and as gray clouds block the sun day after day, I pause to remind myself how much I love Indiana.  The newness and beauty of the first snow has disappeared into memory, and the glow of the holidays is in the past.  In unending grayness with just a stab of sun every now and then, I think back to the heat of the summer and how I whined about sticky, humid days.

Now, I long for those hot, muggy days when, in a few minutes outside, a blanket of warm and humid air settled over me.   Those days when the heat built up in my home without air conditioning and no breeze ventured through the window screens. Those days when I watered my porch flowers constantly to keep them bright and happy.

As winter drags on, I leaf through my yearly seed catalogs which always arrive just after the first of the year – just in time to lift my spirits and set my mind to dreaming about the first of many garden treasures to come.  The early strong stems of green onions, the beauty of frilly, colorful lettuce, and round heads of cabbage.  And later, fresh, glowing red tomatoes hanging from vines, long, thin green beans dancing on the bushes, and green pepper globes huddled in bunches on sturdy stalks.

Abiding bitter Indiana winters is just a matter of knowing that eventually they do end.  So as January plods into February and February slowly migrates into March, I wait for that first warm, soft breeze from the south which heralds the end of winter and the beginning of spring.  It is just a matter of time now until the early flowers venture up through the softening earth and the trees come alive with the twittering of birds and bees flit from bloom to bloom.

But never in the deepness of winter do I wish it were any other way.  For how could one appreciate the freshness of the coming spring without the travails of the long winter?   Ah, Indiana, how do I love thee?  In so many ways that I lose count.

Lillies

Corner of my backyard

CITY CONTINUES TO WAGE WAR ON URBAN CORE

The City is looking to step-up its demolition program to combat what it “defines” as urban blight.  By the destruction of selected homes in specific areas of the urban core, the City hopes – and I use the word lightly – to bring new development to the areas left by the destruction of homes.  Not long ago, the City set out on a path to do just that with the Renaissance Point project – a project that so far has yielded very little in the way of the goals that were set.

The reality is that a razed home is a lost home and leaves in its place nothing more than a vacant, weed-prone lot that will more than likely never be used as a home site again.

The Fort Wayne and Allen County areas have historically been overbuilt with homes.  With a county plan commission that has rarely met a subdivision it didn’t like,  the march toward a subdivision littered county is all but assured.  With subdivision construction comes flight from the inner core of the city – or vice versa.  But either way, the urban core is being decimated by a policy of subdivision construction coupled with a policy of demolishing older homes found in the urban core.

A grant application prepared by the city claims that over the past 30 years, 50,000 families have left the urban core.  As part of a larger federal grant application, the city is seeking $4.8 million to raze 400 homes throughout the city, again with a focus on the southeast. That is 400 empty lots, and, even if the city uses its program of selling the empty lots to the neighboring homeowners, an empty lot does not have the value of one with improvements.

As the city pursues its war on the urban core, a soon-to-be released study by IPFW opposes the strategy of razing older homes, and, instead suggests that the better policy is to secure the homes for future restoration – sometimes called mothballing.   Mothballing can be a solution to the rising vacancy rates of the city’s older neighborhoods if the city is truly interested in salvaging what is left of the core of Fort Wayne rather than waging war by demolition.

East Central neighborhood - empty lots where houses once stood

MADE IN THE USA – NOT MADE IN THE USA

Free trade agreements by both Democratic and Republican administrations have had a devastating effect on American workers and American jobs.  Let’s face it, if outsourcing was not profitable, it wouldn’t be done.   Corporations continue to make tremendous profits from outsourcing American jobs while Americans continue to swallow the trend hook, line, and sinker because they buy into corporate propaganda and free-market fanatics who claim that it is “evil” to challenge the corporate philosophy of the bottom-line of profit.

But here is another bottom line:  an outsourced job is a lost job, and it likely won’t be coming back.  In newly industrializing countries, corporations can pay overseas workers wages ranging from .44 cents an hour to .60 cents an hour all the while avoiding commitments to human rights and shirking duties to protect the environment.

As I continue to look for products made in the USA, I have decided to share those that I do locate with you.  I have found it more and more difficult to turn over an item or look at a tag and find “Made in the USA.”  I have also decided to share those that I have found that are not made in the USA.  I have created two new pages:  one for products made in the USA and one for products not made in the USA.  I will provide as much information about the corporations as possible and list it with the products.

As you shop, I challenge you to take time to look at where products are made and to ask yourself what American job was lost so that these products could be placed on American shelves in virtually every mega-retail and not-so-mega retail chain in the United States.

And, lest you think that only trivial items are outsourced, let me give you an example of what I think is a major item made in China.  Faucets – yes, faucets.  When I went to buy my kitchen sink faucet, I looked at all the brands at Lowe’s – Koehler, Moen, and Peerless.  Not a one was made here in the United States – all were made in China and still sold for ridiculously high prices.

Think about new-home construction and old-home renovating in the United States and then consider how many faucet sets are needed.  It isn’t just lower-cost items that are invading our markets – every outsourced job is a lost job. Period.

THIEME DRIVE TO UNDERGO SHORE STABILIZATION

I have written about Thieme Drive on numerous occasions with my primary concern the construction of an atrocious, 1100-foot long, 10-foot high concrete wall along the river bank at the intersection of West Berry Street, Thieme Drive, and Nelson Street.  But Thieme Drive has two issues that involve the St. Marys River – the wall is one of them.  The second is the erosion of the river bank at the southwest end of Thieme Drive.

Those who travel Thieme Drive on a regular basis – or live in the area – can’t miss the “Road Closed” signs at each end of the drive.   The signs warn of the critical condition of Thieme Drive at its intersection with West Washington Boulevard.  The approaching shore stabilization project, which has been let for bids,  represents the culmination of years of starts and stops – many of which were impacted by the lack of federal funding.

The Thieme Drive river bank erosion issue begins at the southwest end of Thieme Drive where it intersects with West Washington Boulevard and runs for approximately one block northeast to the intersection of Thieme Drive and West Wayne Street.  The river bank has eroded from the natural processes of the river’s flow as it curves like a serpent through Swinney Park, along the southern edge of the Nebraska Neighborhood, and along Thieme Drive.

Rivers – no matter how slow they appear to meander – exhibit a natural process called “cutting” and “depositing.”  As a river flows, two forces work on the sides of the river banks.  On the inside edge, the river flows at a slower pace and drops – deposits – its load of silt, rock, and any other materials that have been bounced and carried along.  On the outside edge, the river flows at a faster pace, carving – cutting – into the outside edge of the bank and carrying away soil and undercutting tree roots.

The process is a natural cycle and, ultimately, over thousands of years, will result in the curves coming so close to each other that a heavy flash flood will bisect the curvature, and an ox-bow lake will be born.  The Google Earth image below shows the exaggeration of the river’s curves as well as the area of the river bank stabilization project.

The stabilization project using gabion baskets is a much-needed repair of the river bank.  The downside will be the probable destruction of many of the trees along the bank.  The equipment necessary to work on the project will no doubt require access which will require removal of the trees.  I am hoping that the Corps will take it easy on the existing vegetation, especially the long-standing elms and cottonwoods.

Now as to the other issue – the flooding at my intersection – I will continue to fight against the erection of a concrete wall and the destruction of 1100-feet of river bank.  Period.

SOUDER SKIPS OUT OF THIRD DISTRICT FOR HOLIDAYS

Apparently the news that Elkhart County in Indiana’s Third District is doing a tad bit better has prompted Representative Souder to enjoy his holiday recess in a foreign land rather than in his home district.  Souder’s last visit to Afghanistan was in March 2006, about eight months prior to the 2006 Congressional election.

He didn’t bother visiting Afghanistan during the 2008 election cycle.  And, since he faces two primary challengers and a general election challenger, what better way to pump up his image than to skip over the pond and land in Afghanistan on the pretext of “assessing” the situation?

Souder makes no secret of his disdain for President Obama and has disagreed with President Obama on virtually every issue that rears its head.   One of his latest criticisms is that Obama’s decision to send 30,000 additional fighters and trainers to Afghanistan and to begin withdrawing U.S. troops in 18 months is flawed. Souder opines that either the number of troops is dramatically underestimated or the length of time is too short.

His trip will prove nothing and bear no fruit.  But, once again, rather than focus on his obligations to the Third District – which he still represents but seems to have forgotten -  he has determined that a trip to Afghanistan is much more important than spending time with his constituency.

FANTABULOUS FOGERTY AND AN EVENING IN THE WINDY CITY

Finally, I made it to see John Fogerty of old CCR fame and on his own since about 1972.  December 1, 2007,  I had purchased a ticket for his concert at the Murat in Indianapolis, but the weather turned ugly with ice and sleet beginning at about 3:00 in the afternoon preventing me from making the two-hour drive to Indy.  I determined that I would get to a concert as soon as one came close again.

I watched off and on for concert dates close to Fort Wayne, but none appeared until I noticed that he was coming to Chicago in November.  Now, Chicago wasn’t exactly my idea of close; however, the alternatives were locations all across the country.  So I ordered my ticket online and accepted that if it was Chicago, then Chicago it would be.  The concert was scheduled for the Auditorium – connected to Roosevelt University.

The Auditorium, E. Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL

I did the MapQuest thing, opened my paper maps, and plotted out my route.  I don’t have and won’t have a GPS – just another one of those things that takes the place of using your mind and senses.  I wasn’t sure just how long it would take me to get to the Windy City, so I took off plenty early.  I hadn’t been to Chicago since the summer of 1987 to browse around the “Taste of Chicago.”

I was pretty comfortable with the route up through Valparaiso, but I wasn’t too familiar with the remainder of my path.  I knew I had to get onto the Chicago SkyWay, and I was getting extremely nervous about the traffic.  The only thing I remembered from my previous trips were the crazy drivers who insisted on weaving in and out of the traffic.  I envisioned one of those bat-out-of-hell drivers cutting me off sending me over the side of the bridge.  But the SkyWay wasn’t nearly as frightening as I remembered.  Perhaps it had to do with my numerous travels in the 22-year interval.

I had driven to San Diego and back by myself – Interstate 5 is a nightmare;  I had scurried up and down I-95 in Florida – taking my life in my hands; I had driven back and forth to Florida several times – braving Atlanta – my most-feared City; I had traveled to Staten Island to see my son who was in the Navy; and any number of short hops around the Midwest region.

The Chicago Skyway

I arrived well in advance of the concert starting time and was quite surprised to see how close the $20 parking lot was to the auditorium.  Since I had plenty of time, I walked around a little bit and grabbed a bite at the DQ across the street – not exactly gourmet Chicago fare, but it was dark and I didn’t want to be wandering around by myself too far from the Auditorium.

I watched the people and traffic as I finished my salad and then headed over to the theater.  I went in a back way that another concert goer had suggested and, much to my surprise, I was able to bypass the ticket takers and the gathering crowd in front of the theater.  I strolled around the lobby of the theater admiring the beautiful architecture, found a seat in front of my entrance, and relaxed for about 20 minutes until I was allowed to go in.

As the theater filled up, I noticed that most of the crowd – but not all – were people in my age range.  I saw people waving to each other from their various positions in the theater and chatting in the aisles.  I had followed Fogerty and CCR from the days of the late ’60s; the band’s music and, in particular, Fogerty, had always been my favorites.  When many my age have been asked their favorites, the immediate answers usually included the Stones or the Beatles.  While I liked both of those groups, I was never enamored of them.

The concert was everything I had expected and more.  From the first heart-bouncing beats to the last strings of the encore tune, I was not disappointed.  John Fogerty has not lost his voice as I believe has happened to many singers in other older groups.  The Blue Ridge Rangers are an eclectic group – from the traditional guitar players to an accomplished “fiddler” (also known as a violinist).  The music is heavy on bass – which had me a little worried at first since I could feel many of the notes as if they were originating in my heart and wondered if they might somehow trigger an arrhythmia (it’s the age thing).

As I left the concert hall, I was already looking forward to another Fogerty concert.  I had thought about staying overnight, but I decided against it.  As I drove out of the Windy City at midnight with Christmas lights and decorations brightly shining, I could still feel the loudness of the music in my ears and I thought how much fun it had been and how silly I was to worry about the drive.

The drive home was tiring, and I had to pull into an all-night truck stop to grab about a 20-minute nap which helped me get through the rest of my drive back to Fort Wayne, pulling my truck up beside my home at 4:00 a.m.  What a fantastic time – a concert I will never forget, and a wonderful trip to the Windy City of Chicago.

John Fogerty - photo credit elblogdearchi.com

DANIELS HIRING FREEZE THAWS QUICKLY FOR HIS REPUBLICAN SENATE

I read everyday about the Indiana budget and how education, salaries, social programs, etc. must be trimmed in order to ward off the state’s financial problems.  So what does the Little Napoleon do?

Here is the release in the Journal-Gazette:

Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, sent out a statement Friday touting what his chamber is doing to rein in spending after Gov. Mitch Daniels announced spending cuts.

Among the efforts was continuing its “current hiring freeze.”

But less than 10 minutes later another release from Long appeared – this one welcoming a new policy analyst.

So much for that hiring freeze.

Senate officials later defended the hire as essential to the operation of the chamber.

So, while David Long was busy touting the “current” efforts of the state senate to “hold the line”, his party boss had already jumped the line to favor the Republican-controlled senate with a new employee as a GOP policy analyst.  To top it off, though, here is how the entire incident is explained:

Scott Minier, communications director for the Senate GOP, said there was no conflict. The freeze, he said, applied to “non-essential, noncritical and new positions.”  A policy analyst, he said, is essential.

And what does the new, totally essential employee get as compensation while others are seeing freezes and cuts? Why, a mere $90,000.

Photo credit - indydemocrat.blogspot

PFIZER FOLLY- CORPORATE GIANT BETRAYS NEW LONDON 4 YEARS AFTER EMINENT DOMAIN FIASCO

Four years after one of the most disastrous Supreme Court eminent domain “takings” cases in recent history, Pfizer will vacate its facility in New London, Connecticut.  Pfizer in cooperation with the City of New London wouldn’t be stopped by mere private property rights.  But just like child who covets a toy but when it is received tosses it to the side, Pfizer has now decided it will abandon the site which triggered the infamous struggle between a corporate “giant” and residential “Davids.”

The “Davids” lost in the end.  A decade ago, when it began seizing property in the Fort Trumbull section of New London, Connecticut, the local redevelopment authority had grand plans.  The plans took precedence over the individual plans of the people who happened to own the neighborhood’s homes and businesses.

One of those homeowners, Suzette Kelo – the “Kelo” in the Kelo v. City of New London – lost her home along with many other business owners and homeowners whose families had lived and worked in the area for decades.   The City threw millions of dollars of incentives at the big pharma giant, hoping that Pfizer’s plans for its new R & D facility accompanied by the new “small urban village” planned for the adjacent area would revitalize the economy.  But now New London faces the loss of the company as well as thousands of jobs.

Poor, poor Pfizer.  What is it up to now?  Well, it just completed a $67 billion acquisition in October of Wyeth, another drug giant.  But Pfizer isn’t done – no sireee – Pfizer will now close the one bright spot in the whole ridiculous mess – its R & D facility – and pull 1,400 jobs out of the community, moving them to Groton, Connecticut.

The willy-nilly actions of the City of New London backed by the United States Supreme Court shows just much power corporations can wield.  Pfizer wanted land, the City of New London bought into a misguided development plan, and the Supreme Court completed the theft of private property with its ill-reasoned decision.

The one positive?  After the decision was handed down, 43 state legislatures – including Indiana – scrambled to pass legislation that prevented the taking of private property for the purposes of economic development alone.

Eminent Domain abuse - drawing credit to Richmond Times Dispatch

PIQUA PRESERVATION AND GRAND LAKE ST. MARYS

Last week I drove down to southern Ohio to see one of my sons and his family.  I take a fairly regular route, heading southeast out of Fort Wayne on U.S. 27 to Decatur and then picking up U.S. 33 through St. Marys.  Just outside Sidney, Ohio, I hop onto Interstate 75 south through Dayton, finally catching Ohio 73 to my destination.

I usually stop at the Speedway gas station at the edge of Piqua, Ohio, to take a break and get a fresh cup of coffee.  So a couple of  weeks ago when I received one of my historical magazines, I was quite surprised to see an article with a magnificent restored building located in —- Piqua, Ohio.  The article discussed the restoration of the old Fort Piqua Hotel, and I knew instantly that the next time I headed to southern Ohio, I would be wandering into the heart of Piqua to see the hotel.

The Fort Piqua Hotel suffered from the maladies of its oldness – asbestos and lead paint contaminating its grand interior.  Decaying year by year, the hotel became a victim of indifference and benign neglect.  But its colorful history could not be ignored, and the City set out on a path of restoration of the Richardsonian Romanesque-style hotel.

HISTORY OF THE FORT PIQUA HOTEL

The Fort Piqua Hotel was built in 1891 – almost one hundred years after the founding of Piqua in 1793 by General Anthony Wayne.  The hotel has been home to numerous businesses that have come and gone. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the hotel was a hotbed of political activity. During the 1912 presidential election, candidates William Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, and Eugene Debs spoke from the grand balcony over the hotel entrance, drawing spectators from all over Western Ohio and Eastern Indiana.

During the Women’s Suffrage Movement, “Women for Warren Harding” held a rally in the hotel to promote the newly acquired constitutional right to vote. In 1947, in the midst of the National Civil Rights Movement, a lunch counter sit‐in demonstration resulted in an end to segregated restaurants in the City.

By the 1970s, the 85,000-square-foot building, once used as a hotel for transients and a bus depot, was all but vacant and had become the epitome for small-city urban decay.  Numerous developers approached the City over the next two decades, but the scope and enormity of restoring the grand old hotel forced them to back away from the project.

In 2001, the City of Piqua stepped up to the plate, creating a nonprofit development corporation to transform the faded old hotel into a bright new home for the local library.  Federal and state grants and tax credits helped move the massive effort forward, as did City funds and almost $4 million in private donations.  The result?  A remarkable restoration worthy of the award it recently received from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Fort Piqua Hotel built in 1891

Fort Piqua Hotel built in 1891

Tower of the Fort Piqua Hotel

And then on to the Grand Lake St. Marys just outside St. Marys, Ohio.

St. Marys, Ohio, is up the interstate and not too far from Piqua, so I decided I would stop and see the lake that carried the same name as the river that runs by my home.

I had never been to Grand Lake St. Marys, but the town has a unique curve in its main street with an old theater that sits along the curve.  As I drove into the Grand Lake St. Marys State Park which housed the lake, I wasn’t sure which way to go.  I saw some shimmering water and drove toward it, but it turned out to be simply an inlet.  I was disappointed.  Where was that lake?

I did not give up, though, and I am so thankful I did not.  I kept driving, and as I rounded a curve, I looked out upon a huge expanse of water.  The lake was enormous.   The Grand Lake St. Marys was constructed in the early 1800s as a reservoir for the Miami and Erie Canals.  The Lake – covering 13,500 acres in Auglaize and Mercer counties -  is the largest inland lake in Ohio in terms of land area, but it is extremely shallow, with an average depth of only 5 to 7 feet.

I continued around the Lake and discovered a rocky, narrow jetty that curved like a cupped hand out into the lake.  I parked my truck and began my trek out to the far point of the jetty.  The wind was chilly, but the sun was bright and warm as I stepped onto the well-worn trail.  Huge boulders lined the sides of the jetty, shriveled fish heads lay on the path – evidence that the fowl that languished around the jetty did not go hungry.

As I picked my way over the stones, I stopped several times to stare at the shimmering water.  Somehow several of the huge rocks had come to rest at various points in the middle of the path.  I paused a couple of  times to sit down on the huge boulders and rest – letting the cool, tingly breeze sweep across my face. I finally made it to the end, turning to stare back at the length of jetty.

I rested one final time and then started back toward my truck.  I climbed into my truck to warm up and spent a few minutes just thinking about how much beauty can be found in nature.  I know I will make it a point to stop at the Grand Lake again when I travel back to southern Ohio.  What a great day!  I saw the Piqua preservation of the Fort Piqua Hotel, and I enjoyed the serenity of the Grand Lake St. Marys.

Beginning of the jetty path

Grand Lake St. Marys - largest inland lake in Ohio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boulders lining the jetty path

View of Grand Lake St. Marys from the jetty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View from the lake end of the jetty