Happy Halloween

Actually, I never liked Halloween.  It always seemed to me a very un-American holiday.  You disguise yourself, go out, and threaten people to extort candy.  You don’t earn the candy.  You don’t do anything for it other than promise bad consequences if your victims  don’t produce.  

What lesson are we teaching the children of America?  We are creating mob enforcers and gangsters.  This is not the morality we need to be imparting.  So don’t bring your little bloodsucking vampires and brain-eating zombies to my door.  All they will get is a lecture on personal responsibility about hard work and the need to be responsible for one’s actions.

You don’t want to hear my Christmas message.

Occupy America

I have not been to New York to take part in the Occupy Wall Street gathering, but I do support it.  That movement has changed the whole tenor of the political debate.  Just this week the New York Times featured two charts and the Allentown Morning Call had a front page article detailing just how much the top 1% rakes in compared to the bottom 99%.

Americans are becoming aware that the inequalities in this country are truly amazing and growing each year.  In income, educational equality, health care, or any other measure of social justice you can name, as Beavis and Butthead would say, “We suck.”

Occupy Wall Street is drawing attention to those inequalities.  The “issue” of the deficit has been shoved off the front page.  We are starting to focus on real issues, and rich people are getting nervous.  If you hold up a sign now that says “The Tea Party speaks for the 1%,” everybody will understand it.

The only reason I haven’t been up to New York is because I tend to avoid any large gathering of people where the toilet facilities are inadequate.  Hey, I’m old. 

An embarrassment

I have friends who finally reached their breaking point with the Times News and cancelled their subscriptions.  I’ve never been tempted to do that--I need it for the  obituaries, the reports on local government activities, and the coverage of area happenings.  I believe newspapers are necessary for an informed citizenry; I read three a day.

Having said that, what passes for editorial analysis in the Times News is truly an embarrassment to the readers.  Just take a look at the editorial entitled “Looking for a job?” by Jim Zbick in today’s issue.  The only conclusion one can draw is that Mr. Zbick thinks American companies should compete with Chinese manufacturing by paying American workers the same or less than Chinese workers.  

He blames President Obama and his “big union buddies” for this state of affairs. He ignores the that unions only represent 9% of the American workers.  He says Wal-Mart can’t afford to buy goods made in the U.S., ignoring the fact that Wal-Mart owners have opened over 300 Wal-Mart stores in China.  He ignores the fact that the decline in American manufacturing started in the Sixties, has continued for six decades under both Republican and Democratic presidents, and will continue if Bachman or Perry or any of the other Republican candidates are elected, probably at an even faster pace.  He ignores the fact that it isn’t workers who move the factories to China, but rather management, which will go anywhere it can to secure an economic advantage.  

He says that “A manufacturing job in the U.S., including salary and benefits, may pay $50 an hour.”  (The italics are his.)  I suppose the heads of corporations and banks may also receive millions of dollars a year.  Oh yeah, they do.  (The italics are mine.)

I don’t expect to agree with every editorial I read.  I do expect a certain level of intelligence and a certain amount of rational thought.  I’m not finding that in the Times News.  That paper owes its readers more than they are getting.

Phone etiquette for political calls

Last night and tonight I worked a phone bank on behalf of Carbon County Democratic candidates.  I’ll probably be doing it again next week.  We start at 5:30 p.m. and call until 8:00.  What are most people doing at that time?  They are winding down from work, or eating dinner, or watching the news.  And here comes a call from me reminding them of the upcoming election and asking for their votes.

I understand they may be annoyed.  I understand they may even be angry.  Nevertheless, I don’t think that warrants hanging up without a further word or using foul language.  Allow me give you a tip for responding to political calls you don’t want to hear.  Say, politely, “I know what you are doing is difficult, and I respect that, but I am not interested.  Thank you.”  Then you hang up. 

I mean, really, do you think I enjoy making these calls?  Do you think I’m making piles of money doing this?  The next time I get hung up on or cursed out, I’m going to call back at midnight and say,”Hey jerk, learn some phone manners.”  You’ve been warned.

Obama's foreign policy

The troops are coming home from Iraq.  Osama bin Laden is dead.  Anwar al-Awlaki is dead.  Muammar Qaddafi is dead.  Tunisia just held a free election.  The U.S. no longer tortures prisoners.  

Here’s what Romney said of President Obama’s foreign policy:  “If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your President.  You have that President today.”  

The United States is still the most powerful military power on earth, but international power rests on any number of variables, including economic strength (we’re in decline), moral leadership (we went way down under the Bush administration), energy independence (think about that), educational attainment (we are way behind a bunch of other countries), the health of its citizens (Cuba has a longer life expectancy), and the relative strength of other nations. 

Let’s look at global warming and population control.  Both China and India take climate change seriously.  They are developing countries, but they are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint.  In the U.S. we have a major political party that denies the whole concept.  Both India and China take population limitations seriously.  In the U.S. a major party denies that population increase is even an issue.

Under the circumstances, and given the material they have to work with, President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have an amazingly successful record on foreign policy.  I shudder to think what President Romney would do, and he’s supposed to be the most reasonable of that lot.

The electoral college in PA

Today the Allentown Morning Call ran a column by Dr. G. Terry Madonna and Michael Young advocating a referendum on allocating electoral college votes by district.  I sent in this response:

Dear Editor:  

A recent opinion piece suggested that although the proposal to allot Pennsylvania’s electoral college votes by congressional district might be politically motivated, we should let the voters decide.  That is flawed reasoning.

A state’s electoral college votes are allocated by the number of U.S. Senators (always two) and House members (which vary by population).  That is the formula, not a method to divide the votes.  If all states determined electoral college votes by congressional districts, the Republicans would win almost every presidential election, since Democratic voters tend to be concentrated in urban areas.  Under the present system, either party has a good chance of winning the White House, but only if all states follow the same rules.  

The fact that Maine and Nebraska allocate by district has had little effect, since they are both small states.  If Pennsylvania were to change its system, it could very well skew the outcome of the presidential race.  

The authors who advocate the referendum think this will restore faith in the legislature.  How?  Consider the money that would be spent on a public referendum on this issue.  Imagine the distortions of a campaign.  A referendum will not be a calm debate in paneled halls with chandeliers.  It will be a vicious fight between two sides jockeying for political advantage, and its effect will be to make voters even more cynical.

We'll see if it gets published.

Attacking the judiciary

Republican candidates are attacking the courts for “judicial activism.”  Rick Santorum wants to abolish the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  He says it is “consistently radical.”  Rick Perry proposes term limits on federal judges, which means a constitutional amendment.  Newt Gingrich would take away payment for clerks for the courts he finds offensive. Michelle Bachman would remove whole areas of jurisdiction, like gay marriage, from the purview of the federal courts.  

None of the Republican candidates have mentioned the activism of the U.S. Supreme Court in “Citizens United,” in which the Court has said that corporations are like individuals and can contribute as much as they want to candidates.  The “Citizens United” decision has skewed the entire electoral process and pretty much guaranteed that corporate interests will dominate American politics into the future.

I don’t know about you, but I am getting really tired of Republican candidates.  I wish they would just go away.  Really far away.

Dust in the wind

Some months ago at a Big Creek Grange meeting, one of the local farmers told me that the EPA was planning to levy a fine on farmers who created dust when they cultivated or harrowed their fields.  I told him flat out that was nonsense, but recently Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain raised this “issue,” and a number of farm state Republican congressman have been scaring people with similar claims.

You’ve heard of urban myths.  This was a rural myth.  Now EPA  chief Lisa Jackson, in a letter to two senators, said flat out that the EPA will not expand its current air quality standards to include dust that comes from agricultural operations.  Last week the EPA also issued a press release that said “EPA hopes that this action finally puts an end to the myth that the agency is planning to expand regulations on farm dust.”

I obtained this information from the latest issue of Lancaster Farming.  There is no higher authority.  

Health Care Benefits at Walmart

Walmart recently announced that all future employees who work less than 24 hours a week will no longer qualify for the company’s health insurance plans.  Employees who work between 24 and 33 hours a week will not be able to insure a spouse.  Premiums will increase for full-time workers as well, and deductibles can rise to $5000 a year.

I got into an argument with a guy at the Toomey event at Penn’s Peak earlier this year.  He said unions were not needed because good workers would be rewarded.  I brought up WalMart, and he insisted that one person could reasonably bargain with the nation’s largest private employer.  At that point I began to shout at him.  (I know, I know--that was stupid.)  So, in a very calm voice, I would simply point out that what WalMart is doing shows the need for a strong union that can bargain on behalf of its employees.

WalMart is also charging a differential for workers who smoke, noting that their health care costs are about 25% higher than nonsmokers.  Personally, I don’t have a problem with that.  

If it's so great, why don't you move back?

California adopted a “cap and trade “ policy to take effect in 2013.  The Air Resources Board (aside:  we don’t have one of those in Pennsylvania) adopted a plan by a unanimous vote to set limits on greenhouse gasses.  The plan was made possible by 2006 legislation signed by then Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

If you want to read the whole article, and I urge you to do so, go to <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/business/energy-environment/california-adopts-cap-and-trade-system-to-limit-emissions.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=f>.

It is a different world out there.  And no, I’m not moving back. Pennsylvania needs me.

The Tea Party goes after manatees

According to the latest issue of the Sierra Club magazine, an effort to protect the manatees by reducing power boat speeds in Kings Bay in Citrus County, Florida, drew opposition from the local Tea Party.  Edna Mattos, a Tea Party leader, told the St. Petersburg Times, “We cannot elevate nature above people.  That’s against the Bible and the Bill of Rights.”

You can insert your own comment here.

While I am on the subject of animals, surely the authorities in Ohio could have asked people to shelter in place until animal tranquilizers were brought in. Was it really necessary to shoot Bengal tigers?  The larger question is why were those tigers allowed there to begin with?

Nature bats last

PBS featured a program tonight on the “Wolves of Chernobyl.”  Because of the nuclear power plant meltdown, a large area of Belarus and Ukraine have been declared off limits to humans.  Animals and plants, however, never got the memo.  The area teems with wildlife, including over 100 wolves in a number of packs.  Beavers have dammed up the canals and created wetlands, bison have been introduced, and the towns and villages in the zone are reverting back to the natural state.  The animals have a larger than average amount of birth defects, but they are thriving in spite of that.

Somewhat the same thing has happened in the DMZ between North and South Korea.  A narrow wildlife refuge, unmolested by humans, now stretches across the middle of Korea.  

Perhaps after the human race succeeds in killing itself off, and it seems well along the way to accomplishing that, the earth will once again right itself.  The philosopher Barry Commoner coined the phrase “nature bats last.”  It is something to remember on the opening day of the World Series.

A bad case of the stupids

Today the Business section of the New York Times featured an article about the Arctic Ocean now open for oil tankers.  What Henry Hudson was searching for--a northern passage to Asia--is now available.  The sea lanes are ice-free.

You can rationally deny that human activities are causing global warming, but you cannot rationally deny that global warming is taking place.  Nonetheless, at least three Republican candidates, one in the top tier, are doing just that.  I don’t know whether to be depressed or amazed.

Going to the Candidates' Debate

Tonight I attended a debate in Jim Thorpe sponsored by the “9/12” group.  The 9/12 group was inspired by Glenn Beck.  Remember him?  The debate included candidates for sheriff and county commissioner. 

I would say the audience was about 3/4ths Republican and 1/4 Democratic.  The Republican candidate for sheriff, Mr. Armbruster, said a number of times that he would not enforce illegal foreclosures.  Mr. Nothstein, the Democratic candidate, pointed out that foreclosures are ordered by the courts under Pennsylvania law.  I received the distinct impression that Mr. Armbruster would personally decide which laws are constitutional and which are not.  I found him to be more ridiculous than scary.

Of the Commissioner candidates, the most knowledgeable and coolest under tough questioning was Democrat Bill O’Gurek.  Each candidate was able to ask a question of one of the others.  Republican candidate Gerhard asked Mr. O’Gurek if he was planning to vote for Obama in 2012.  Mr. O’Gurek replied, “I am.”  There was a brief silence, and then the moderator moved to the next question.  It was one of the best and most effective answers I have ever heard in a debate.  

There was a question about whether the Commissioners would raise taxes in the next four years, and all four candidates said it was impossible to answer that question.  I thought that spoke highly of each of them.

I wore my “Chairman Meow” T-shirt.  It’s a red shirt with a pussycat in a Mao Tse-Tung cap.  My hat said “Liberal” and I carried a sign that said “Occupy Jim Thorpe.”  I had a great time.

Medical costs

The U.S. spends more per capita for health care than any other country, yet the health of our citizens is not appreciably better.  Cuba has a greater life expectancy than we do.  What are we doing wrong?

This morning my aunt thought she was having a heart attack.  I told her to call 911 and ask for an ambulance.  I would be right over.

She was right, and she has already received a stent at Lehigh Valley Hospital.  I talked to her this evening, and she is doing fine.  

What I want to know is why were two ambulances dispatched to her house?  Why was a firetruck dispatched?  It was one aunt with one heart attack.  Why five EMTs?  Why three vehicles?  My cousin, who was also there, said she heard it was some kind of state law.  If that is true, it is time to repeal that law.  

Sacred text?

The first constitution that included a process for amendments was the one promulgated by William Penn for Pennsylvania.  Prior to that, instruments of government were presumed to be good for all time.  Penn, however, had the modesty to assume that his charter might need to be modified as conditions changed.

The men who wrote the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia in 1787 were equally modest.  The document had seven articles, and one of them, Article V, spelled out the amending process.  It didn’t take long for amendments to be added, either.  The first ten were approved to reassure the anti-Federalists, who were concerned that the original text had no bill of rights.

I’m pretty sure the delegates would be amused, or maybe appalled, at statements by Michelle Bachman that the Constitution is a “sacred text,” given to us by God.  Actually, it was given to us by humans like Franklin and Madison and Hamilton, who argued and compromised and made secret deals behind closed doors.  

People recognized its flaws early.  When Lincoln spoke of “four score and seven years ago,” he was using the Declaration of Independence as our starting point.  He wanted to stress the “all men are created equal” material, not the document with the 3/5ths clause and its references to “other persons.”  

I have great respect for our Founding Fathers.  The Constitution they produced was impressive, but it is not sacred.  A presidential candidate or even a candidate for sheriff who calls the Constitution sacred or handed down by God should be laughed off the ballot.

Apples

Today Linda and I drove to Hopewell National Historic Site near Reading to pick Staymen and Winesap apples in the orchard maintained at the site.  You pay a dollar a pound, and we picked enough for a pie and apple jelly.  We also toured the iron works where cannons were forged for the American Revolution.  

After the site was acquired by the national government, much of it was rebuilt in the Thirties by the Civilian Conservation Corps.  That was a time when Congress approved of programs to create jobs, and the jobs helped to rebuild America.

Most of the staff we encountered were volunteers.  These are people who give their time to preserve the heritage of America.  What a contrast to the ideology of selfishness espoused by the Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman and Ron Paul.

Scapegoating and Access cards

In Chapter 16 of Leviticus, Aaron, the brother of Moses, gets two goats.  On one of them he piles all the sins of the children of Israel and sends that goat into the wilderness.  According to Verse 22, “And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”  That goat is labeled the “scapegoat.”

I thought of that poor goat when I read about Rep. Heffley’s proposed legislation regarding Access cards and undocumented immigrants.  I’m not sure how big a problem this is, but it seems to be limited to one incident in the town of Beaver Meadows.  At least that is what all the press releases keep referring to.  Nevertheless we can pile all our sins--unemployment, crime, bilingual education, welfare fraud--on that Latino goat.

If you ranked all of the problems faced by the people of Carbon County, I believe that misuse of Access cards would be far down the list.  Nonetheless, undocumented workers make an excellent scapegoat.  Like the goat, they can’t fight back.k

Rep. Heffley may very well ride this issue to reelection.  Certainly Congressman Barletta used attacks on immigrants without papers to his advantage.  It works, but it is a despicable tactic.

A Carbon County Democratic Headquarters

Republicans have a Carbon County Headquarters, located on First Street in Lehighton.  It’s not open every day, but it provides a focal point for the party, a place to meet, a space to store materials, and a location for phone banking.

The Republicans, of course, represent the stratum of society that has money to rent a headquarters.  

Carbon County Democrats managed to rent a temporary headquarters on First Street in 2008.  In 2010 the Democrats rented another headquarters next to the Dollar General. It was used heavily in state and federal campaigns, but it was shuttered a few weeks after the election.

How can the party, which lives from election to election, manage a permanent headquarters?  My suggestions is that 100 Carbon Democrats agree to donate $100 a year to a headquarters fund.  The $10,000 raised annually would be banked until the party had enough for a down payment on an office.  The mortgage would have to be less than $10,000 a year, since insurance and utilities would be added costs.  

I suppose the party could have multiple tiers--perhaps Wolves, who contribute $100 a year, Coyotes, who contribute $50 a year, and Foxes, who give $25, but I like the idea of a clean $100 per contributor.

Updating Marx

Last June a treaty protecting domestic workers from abuse was promulgated under the auspices of the International Labor Organization, a branch of the United Nations.  128 countries voted for the treaty; one (Swaziland) opposed on the grounds that domestic workers should enjoy the same rights given to other workers.

One of major violators of domestic worker rights is Saudi Arabia.  Domestic workers there have been raped, tortured, and even beheaded.  When the Philippine government complained about the Saudi treatment of its migrant domestic workers, the Saudis threatened to hire thousands of Bangladeshis at lower wages than Filipino workers received.

Karl Marx predicted that as capitalism advanced, worker interests would overlap national boundaries.  For example, workers in Germany would have more in common with workers in France than they would with the capitalistic rulers of Germany.  The workers, with nothing to lose but their chains, would form an international unified brotherhood. 

Marx was partially right.  Capital has indeed become international.  Money easily flows around the world; what happens in Greece or China can affect the American stock market a few hours later.  There are over 300 WalMart stores in China, and the WalMart in Mahoning Township is stocked with Chinese goods.  We have global capitalism.

What is not international is the workforce.  Labor unions are almost all organized on a country-by-country basis.  Political parties don’t cross national boundaries.   Environmental groups, with a few exceptions like Greenpeace, follow national lines. 

You can’t control international capital with national organizations.  Raise worker standards in one country and watch companies move to another country with lower standards.  Tighten pollution laws in one country, and watch polluting industries move to a country with lax pollution rules.  Protect domestic workers from the Philippines, but find that Bangladeshis who are even more desperate will take the jobs.  Karl Marx must be rolling over in his grave.

By the way, it is doubtful that the U.S. Senate will ratify the Domestic Workers Treaty.  It would interfere with our sovereignty.

Spare parts

I received a replacement lens this morning during cataract surgery.  It goes with the artificial lens in the other eye installed in January.  A few years ago I received a new knee joint and a new hip joint.  

Without Medicare and the supplemental medical insurance I have as a result of my union membership, I would be walking with a walker or perhaps bound to a wheelchair.  Without Medicare and that insurance  I might not be able to see well enough to drive. 

Obviously I want to preserve Medicare.  Of course I support unions.  What I don’t understand is Senator Toomey’s and Representative Barletta’s opposition to both Medicare and to unions.  They must live in a different world.

Columbus Day

Our daughter graduated from Berkeley High School.  The school didn’t celebrate Columbus Day.  The day was called “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” and lessons stressed the human and environmental catastrophes wreaked on the Americas by the European invasion.

After Columbus’s expedition, Spanish authorities debated the question as to whether the Indians had souls.  (It was decided they did).  Pilgrims arrived at a largely uninhabited New England; almost all of the natives had already succumbed to European diseases.  On the other hand, the Europeans took back tobacco and squash.  Historians call all these trades “the Columbian exchange.”

As a descendent of the European invasion, I am happy Columbus did find his way here.  I like living in America, even if now and then I feel guilt on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Adventures in obtaining voter ID

According to reputable studies, the new voter suppression laws that have already been passed in Republican-dominated states will decrease turnout by about 5 million voters, most of them Democrats.  That is a larger number than Obama won by in 2008.

I am doing my part here.  Yesterday I took my aunt, who no longer drives, to get a photo ID at the Lehighton PennDot office at the Mahoning Mall.  By the way, Republicans always say things like, “You need to show photo ID at your grocery store.”  I shop at County Harvest in Palmerton, at Mallard Market in Lehighton, and at the Kresgeville Deli, and I have NEVER been asked for a photo ID.

We arrived at 11 a.m.  I told my aunt that it wouldn’t take long, since we didn’t have to go to the drivers’ license part of the room.  Wrong.  We were told the first stop was at the drivers’ license section, and we were given a number.  #56.  Number currently being served:  #28.  I have had enough experience with DVM offices to know to bring a book, and I thought I could walk over to McDonalds and bring back lunch.  Wrong.  No food allowed in the waiting room.  

The chairs in the waiting room have no arms.  My aunt uses a walker, and it is extremely difficult for her to get up from a chair with no arms.  When we finally reached the desk and the information was collected, we were directed to the picture portion.  No numbers, only a line.  I told my aunt to sit, and I would stand in line for her.  Without going into boring medical details, when I stand for long period, I have problems.  Luckily, the kindly man behind me told me to sit down, and he would save our place.

When it was my aunt’s turn, the chair she was directed to again had no arms.  Again my aunt had trouble.  

Republicans point out that picture IDs are free.  Do they count time?  Do they count pain?  Suppose my aunt did not have me to drive her?

My aunt has been voting in Towamensing since her twenties.  People at the polling place know her by name.  I can guarantee you that if she does not have voter ID at the 2012 election, some creepy Republican poll watcher will challenge her vote.  Republicans say this whole thing is to prevent fraud.  Let’s call that what it is--a lie.

Note:  I have a faithful reader in Chicago who frequently posts comments.  Today I met him in person.  Occasionally the impersonal internet allows us to meet and enjoy the company of people we never would have known.  That's a good thing.

Oral History

Tomorrow, October 8, about 25 former one-room school students are expected to arrive at Kibler School on Pohopoco Drive at 1 p.m. to be interviewed.  I am one of them.  The attendees will be asked to list the schools we attended, the years we attended, and the names of our teachers.  We will be questioned on what we liked and disliked about our one-room education and whether or not we felt prepared for life.  We will also be asked if we will permit more in-depth follow-up interviews.  I am pleased to be a part of this, but it does make me feel kind of old to be of interest to historians.

The event is sponsored by the Towamensing Township Historical Commission and the Kibler School Committee of the Palmerton Area Historical Society.  The data collected will be used as a resource for future historians or for genealogical research.  It is too bad the interviews were not done years ago--Towamensing one-room school attendees are departing this earth at a fairly rapid rate.  We are all over 60.

I’ve given some thought about what I will tell the interviewer.  What I liked most was when the other classes were doing their recitations, I could read.  As long as you were quiet, the teacher didn’t mind what you did, and I read and read.  What did I dislike?  I know from past experience that some people will say the outdoor toilets on cold winter days.  For me, however, it was watching some of my fellow classmates punished with a wooden paddle.  While I was never paddled personally, I lived in fear of it, and I hated to see fellow students beaten that way.

The Wall Street Protests

My friend Linda, who is the best organizer I know, has been somewhat critical of the Wall Street demonstrators.  She said the other day, “I wonder how many of them voted.”  She thinks they are like a flash mob.  (Another way to define a flash mob might be  “flash in the pan.”)  She points out the demonstrators have no articulated goals.  How will they know when they won?

All of those things are true, but I am still pleased.  First of all, it is nice to see signs of life on the left.  Secondly, the demonstrators are so young.  Ok, I’ll admit things are a bit inchoate, but we also need to remember that the first Tea Party demonstrations were also rather vague.  It was only later the Tea Party became a spokesman for the ultra-right wing of the Republican Party.  Who knows, this may be the beginning of a grassroots movement on the left.  At least we know there are other people like us out there.

As for the demonstrators not voting, both the women’s suffrage movement and the civil rights movement achieved success although many of their participants were not even allowed to vote.  Maybe voting is overrated.  Maybe it is time to take to the streets.  You don’t even need picture ID.

Sharks

Tomorrow I’ll post about the protests on Wall Street.  Today I want to tell you a simple thing you can do to make the world better.

A number of shark species are almost extinct.  In response, Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands have created shark sanctuaries, and now Mexico has announced that it will ban shark fishing.  The U.S. has banned “finning” since 2000, and President Obama has signed legislation that sharks must be intact when they are brought into the U.S.  (“Finning” is the practice of cutting off the shark’s fin for soup; the shark then is released back to the ocean to die.)

If you ever see shark fin soup on a menu, complain to the chef.   If you are in a restaurant in a country like China where shark fin soup is legal and common, don’t eat it, complain to the management, and walk out.  If your friends ever extoll the taste of shark fin soup, punch them in the face.

The March to Suffrage

That was the title for one of my lectures in my “Political Parties and Elections” class.  I would note that when the Constitution was written, suffrage was limited to white males who owned property.  (There were a few exceptions--in New Jersey property-owning widows were allowed to vote for a few years after the Revolution.)  With Jacksonian democracy, suffrage was extended to white males regardless of property ownership.  The 15th Amendment gave the vote to all males, although black men were restricted in the South for another hundred years.

In 1920 women could vote, and in 1964 poll taxes, which kept poor people from voting, were eliminated by the 24th amendment.  In 1971 18-year-olds were allowed to vote.  The Voting Rights Act of 1970 ended literacy tests, and the Voting Rights Act extension in 1975 eliminated the need to know English.  

Since 1975 voting rights were further extended.  Some states permitted election day registration, some made it easier for ex-felons to vote, some permitted early voting and voting by mail.  Absentee balloting was made easier.  We had a few setbacks--in the 19th century many states did not require a voter to be a citizen--but the trend was for greater eligibility and ease of voting.

That all came to an end this year.  Now we get photo ID requirements, the need to produce proof of citizenship, an end to early voting.  According to an article in the Oct. 3 New York Times, as many as five million voters will be disenfranchised by the new requirements that Republicans governors and legislators have introduced and passed.  The overwhelming majority of the disenfranchised will be Democrats.  This is no way to run a democracy.  It is totalitarian in its intent.   

"Page One"

A documentary on the struggle of the New York Times to survive in the age of Twitter and Facebook is playing at the Civic Theater on 19th Street in Allentown.  I saw it yesterday.

The most telling moment in the film for me came when a young snot from “Gawker,” an online news service, said no one needs the Times anymore.  At that point David Carr, a media reporter from the Times, held up a copy of the Gawker site.  Then he held up the same copy with the material from daily newspapers cut out.  Swiss cheese has fewer holes.

One of the executives from an online website noted that his site gives the people what they want to read.  The site does a top ten article list.  I couldn’t read the complete list, but one that stuck out was “Helen Mirren to appear topless.”  I can guarantee you that gem won’t show up on the front page of the New York Times.

I thought it was telling that when the main newspaper in Baltimore filed for bankruptcy, one of the commentators noted that no reporters were left to cover the Zoning Hearing Board.  Twitter may be wonderful, but it can’t cover the war in Afghanistan in 140 character feeds.  We need newspapers.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that probably between 1/4 and 1/3 of the posts are based on articles I read in the New York Times.  If the New York Times and the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle go under, I believe democracy as we know it will cease. 

Full disclosure:  I own some stock in the New York Times.  When I told the broker from Merrill Lynch that I wanted to buy stock in the paper, he did everything he could to discourage me.  I finally told him that I was buying stock for ideological reasons.  He had a real hard time grasping the concept.

Tomorrow:  Up to five million voters will disenfranchised by Republican voter laws.  (If you want a preview, see page one of today’s New York Times.)

The black powder solution

The whole “gun control” debate always stuck me as rather silly and even boring.  Of course people should be allowed to hunt and own weapons.  Of course the government should be allowed to prohibit certain types of weapons and ammo (assault rifles, lead bullets, land mines, RPGs).  

The N.R.A. is a particular irritant.  It raises fears of a total ban in order to rake in large amounts of cash, and gun owners with no sense allow themselves to be bamboozled.

I have heard good suggestions over the years.  One that has merit is to license gun owners rather than guns.  The government doesn’t care if you drive a Ford or a Honda, as long as you pass the driver’s exam.  We could do something similar for gun owners.  In fact, we already require hunters to take a safety course before they can get a license.

In dealing with this issue, Supreme Court justices Scalia and Thomas are always asking what the Founding Fathers meant by certain phrases.  They try to get at the original intent.  They look back to 1789 for guidance.  

So here’s is my idea.  You can own any gun as long as it resembles a gun used in 1789 when the Second Amendment was written.  No automatics.  No AK-47s.  No Glocks.  All the weapons must use black powder.  Such guns are available--in fact, Pennsylvania has a black powder season for deer.  You load the gun through the muzzle, and you dump in powder to propel the bullet.  

In bar disputes you would see guys pulling out their rifles, their ramrods, their wads, and their powder horns.  By the time they were ready to shoot, you could be driving away.  This strikes me as eminently reasonable.  We could all bear arms, and they would be the arms that James Madison and John Adams would recognize immediately.  I’m sending my suggestion to the N.R.A.

Made in the U.S.A.

On previous cross-country trips I sometimes stayed in Newton, Iowa.  It’s a small town on old U.S. 6, east of Des Moines and just north of I-80. The courthouse is wonderful, and the downtown was prosperous.  The last time I stopped by, in 2007, the town was thriving.  It was the home of the Maytag Corporation.  

Maytag shut down its factories since that time.  We drove though Newton this year, and it was obvious the town was on its way down.  

This country needs a manufacturing policy.  In China companies receive free land, cheap credit, and tax breaks.  China graduates more engineers than the U.S.  China understands the importance of making things and exporting the items it makes.

What are our expanding sectors?  Health care and the service industries.  What is Rick Perry’s answer?  Allow companies to pollute and kill unions.  

First, we need to recognize that the decline of manufacturing is a problem.  Secondly, we need to take realistic steps to address the problem.  I don’t see either of those about to happen.