This past weekend we watched the documentary video, The Corporation described by the New York Times as “a smart and fascinating” movie. We found it not only entertaining but also very provocative regarding the history and inner workings of this modern global conglomerate. It took me back to my own American history lessons of the late nineteenth century robber barons, and the Gestapo-like tactics that corporations later used to try and stamp out labor unions in the early twentieth century. This video tells how the corporation was later given “personhood” by the courts under the Fourteenth Amendment, including full civil rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
This morning on public radio I listened to a talk show about another film entitled We’re Holding Our Own. This was about the November 10, 1975 sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the loss of a crew of 29 seamen. In the discussion which followed I was reminded again of just how cold and non-compassionate the “soul” of a corporation can be. When a caller called in to ask about to what extent the families of the dead crewman were later compensated by the company, we were told by the guest historian that the survivors reported that they received some fruit and a small plaque or souvenir.
Corporations now dominate and deform our own reality under the guise of “special interests.”. As citizens, we experience these “artificial” humans directly and daily no matter what policy issue or personal concern we have. They are all powerful and all pervasive. But most alarming to me is that they now completely control my state legislature and yours. They have bought our legislature out hook, line and sinker. They own it! These corporate giants or special interests spend their money during legislative budget hearings and at election time. Their personal representatives, the lobbyists, have your legislator’s ear, not yours! These phantom, grasping entities have high-jacked our democracy.
Postscript. We can be thankful at least that the Edmund Fitzgerald survivors reportedly did receive their social security checks. God bless them!
Friday, September 21, 2007
School Consolidation
The rancorous debate over the recent school consolidation issue is over. The larger fight for adequate school funding is just beginning. This mild insurrection is a perfect example of displaced energy and frustration. After decades now of agonizing struggles, much freely given self and community sacrifice to build and maintain a quality education program for all Madison children, Madison taxpayers’ patience and funding alternatives are running thin.
Middle class Near East Side residents were pitted against middle class West Side residents; social liberals against more conservative liberals; old school board members against newer board members; and special education against special arts programming. This in-fighting unfortunately involved group name calling such as the “complainers” versus the “truly committed” and the “spineless.”
For several weeks, vigorous advocacy and dissent ---the core ingredients for a vibrant democracy --- reigned over Madison. This grass roots democracy included numerous letters and articles written; new funding and program proposals; innovative plans were drawn up to fill up empty spaces; protesters including young people, protested and filled the meeting halls, and many win-win solutions were advanced.
Paradoxically, while all this infighting was playing out at the municipal level, our State pork barrel dependent politicians and rich special interest groups were conspiring at our capitol. . They continue to work hand-in-hand to thwart and hamstring local grass roots efforts to bring about needed local public school, health care, and tax reform for all Wisconsinites.
Until the day comes again when our state representatives begin to represent all the people’s interest in place of the special interests and big business; when campaign finance reform allows you and me to run for public office; until then, we can expect more spending caps, decreasing local municipal and school autonomy, and higher taxes.
What can we do? Join the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (wisdc@wisdc.org) today. Tell your legislator to fight for the removal of local spending caps; ask him or her to speak to your group and ask your lawmaker to talk to you about his or here ten largest contributors and what he had to do to earn their support.
Tell them that unless they vote for campaign reform and cuts their dependence upon the rich and the powerful you plan to work for their defeat come the next election. Urge your local work or professional group, your church’s social justice council; your neighborhood council and local city and county representatives to help work for state campaign finance reform. Finally, ask your local school board representatives to ban together with other city and county school boards to work for campaign finance reform.
Respectfully submitted,
William R. Benedict
Middle class Near East Side residents were pitted against middle class West Side residents; social liberals against more conservative liberals; old school board members against newer board members; and special education against special arts programming. This in-fighting unfortunately involved group name calling such as the “complainers” versus the “truly committed” and the “spineless.”
For several weeks, vigorous advocacy and dissent ---the core ingredients for a vibrant democracy --- reigned over Madison. This grass roots democracy included numerous letters and articles written; new funding and program proposals; innovative plans were drawn up to fill up empty spaces; protesters including young people, protested and filled the meeting halls, and many win-win solutions were advanced.
Paradoxically, while all this infighting was playing out at the municipal level, our State pork barrel dependent politicians and rich special interest groups were conspiring at our capitol. . They continue to work hand-in-hand to thwart and hamstring local grass roots efforts to bring about needed local public school, health care, and tax reform for all Wisconsinites.
Until the day comes again when our state representatives begin to represent all the people’s interest in place of the special interests and big business; when campaign finance reform allows you and me to run for public office; until then, we can expect more spending caps, decreasing local municipal and school autonomy, and higher taxes.
What can we do? Join the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (wisdc@wisdc.org) today. Tell your legislator to fight for the removal of local spending caps; ask him or her to speak to your group and ask your lawmaker to talk to you about his or here ten largest contributors and what he had to do to earn their support.
Tell them that unless they vote for campaign reform and cuts their dependence upon the rich and the powerful you plan to work for their defeat come the next election. Urge your local work or professional group, your church’s social justice council; your neighborhood council and local city and county representatives to help work for state campaign finance reform. Finally, ask your local school board representatives to ban together with other city and county school boards to work for campaign finance reform.
Respectfully submitted,
William R. Benedict
America’s Top Five Corporations
According to our U.S. Supreme Court the corporation politically speaking is to be treated the same as a US citizen or person. And, that money spent on political campaigns is a form of freedom of speech. I know, deep down, and so do you, that both of these decisions are neither right nor just in a true democracy. But both decisions are the law of the land and until changed, we must continue to live with this reality. Together however they have resulted in a situation which allows giant corporations to buy what they want from the peoples’ legislatures.
National and state efforts to equalize the playing field between the corporation and the individual citizen are obviously, not working. Nevertheless given this reality how can we begin to humanize and gain some measure of control of this artificial human? When are we, the American people, going to wake and begin to tame this grasping and non-feeling “paper” tiger? When are we going to rise up and together say, “We are just not going to take this anymore?” In spite of Senators McCain and Feingold, God bless them, for the foreseeable future corporations will continue, big time, to buy and control the media and our representatives. Until public finance campaign reform efforts eventually succeed, what action can we take to mollify this monster? I propose that we become much smarter and vigilant.
Given the existing playing field, I propose that we begin to more accurately judge the giant corporation based on its actual monetary deeds and not its corpulent public relations or advertising budget that continues to dumb us down and make us feel alienated and powerless as citizens. First lets get a law passed that makes every giant U.S. corporation which is owned and operated by US citizens begin to pay its fair share regardless of where it is incorporated. And while we are waiting to make this the law of the land, and to help the corporation to begin to earn our respect and trust once again, lets begin to track its “community giving” with some hard quantifiable numbers. Let a corporation’s “social capital” be judged against the following two ratios. The amount contributed to the community divided by its net profit. The amount invested in the community divided by the amount awarded its top management or CEOs.
What ever ratios are selected, like the NY stock exchange, lets choose the most accountable indexes (percent of giving based on total worth) we can find and have the top five hundred corporations routinely report their “community goodwill or performance” results. Let us, we the people, through our representative, based upon the five highest rankings, yearly pass a congressional resolution honoring the top five as the American peoples “Top Five Corporations.” If you are reading this and believe you have a better idea, then, for heaven sake let’s hear it. I am morally outraged with the status quo. If you feel like I do, please let the editor of this newspaper hear from you.
National and state efforts to equalize the playing field between the corporation and the individual citizen are obviously, not working. Nevertheless given this reality how can we begin to humanize and gain some measure of control of this artificial human? When are we, the American people, going to wake and begin to tame this grasping and non-feeling “paper” tiger? When are we going to rise up and together say, “We are just not going to take this anymore?” In spite of Senators McCain and Feingold, God bless them, for the foreseeable future corporations will continue, big time, to buy and control the media and our representatives. Until public finance campaign reform efforts eventually succeed, what action can we take to mollify this monster? I propose that we become much smarter and vigilant.
Given the existing playing field, I propose that we begin to more accurately judge the giant corporation based on its actual monetary deeds and not its corpulent public relations or advertising budget that continues to dumb us down and make us feel alienated and powerless as citizens. First lets get a law passed that makes every giant U.S. corporation which is owned and operated by US citizens begin to pay its fair share regardless of where it is incorporated. And while we are waiting to make this the law of the land, and to help the corporation to begin to earn our respect and trust once again, lets begin to track its “community giving” with some hard quantifiable numbers. Let a corporation’s “social capital” be judged against the following two ratios. The amount contributed to the community divided by its net profit. The amount invested in the community divided by the amount awarded its top management or CEOs.
What ever ratios are selected, like the NY stock exchange, lets choose the most accountable indexes (percent of giving based on total worth) we can find and have the top five hundred corporations routinely report their “community goodwill or performance” results. Let us, we the people, through our representative, based upon the five highest rankings, yearly pass a congressional resolution honoring the top five as the American peoples “Top Five Corporations.” If you are reading this and believe you have a better idea, then, for heaven sake let’s hear it. I am morally outraged with the status quo. If you feel like I do, please let the editor of this newspaper hear from you.
Pigeons
To the Editor of the Clinton Tribune Gazette
I am a seventy-one year old retiree who has raised and cared for homing pigeons myself. ---in a town of about 3000 residents and very much like Clintonville, I discovered this when I read about your very fine town on your friendly web site. This morning I read in my newspaper about one hundred fair feathered friends living in Clintonville, WI. I read that they are about to be evicted from their home of twenty-seven years.
I was especially saddened when I read the comments of Clintonville’s city administrator, Lisa Kotter, who when asked about the recent court order to evict these birds said, and I quote, “Cities do have the right to regulate licensing and zoning,” and then, seemingly in a rather arrogant and insensitive cavalier-like fashion, she added, “Sometimes we change the rules.” My aim in this letter is not intended to intrude into your fine community’s business. Certainly your city has the right and the obligation to regulate those municipal areas deemed necessary by your city council. Based only on my newspaper’s story, however, I do want to propose that the Council consider granting Mr. Kruger, the owner of the these birds, who by the way, currently holds permits to keep his flock of racing homers in his backyard, be allowed to continue to do so via the “grandfathered-in clause.”
Otherwise I feel that there our many citizens of planet earth, like myself, who will see this proposed ban as being executed in an unnecessarily arbitrary and harsh fashion. After all the homing pigeon is a “domesticated Rock Pigeon of the “Columba livia” class that has been selectively bred to be able to find its way home over extremely long distances. This fact by the way is what makes their potential capricious separation or exclusion from your community of much greater concern than otherwise. This particular community of homing pigeons for 27 years have had no other home, and it is very likely that if they are abruptly vacated from their home, this instability in their lives will continue for many generations to come, if not for ever.
Before reading your administrators dispassionate comments I was quite impressed with just how socially and civically responsible these now about to be evicted winged neighbors have been in Clintonville. I learned that they had served their community in ways that only a pigeon can ---by flying back to their home lofts from funerals, weddings, parades and even from Memorial Day services in Sheboygan, WI.
What seems regrettable is that rather than seeing these little winged friends as a special case and as special neighbors, now almost a community tradition, and continuing to welcome them into your community, they undoubtedly are being perceived now as a mistake, a nuisance, a problem, or just a pain in the neck. Perhaps it’s still not too late to save these loyal winged friends. Perhaps the Clintonville Chamber of Commerce or local American Legion post could market their “lofty home” here as a unique and wonderful story. A time when the people of Clintonville honored their special winged friends as a bastion of patriots whose earlier generations served our country loyally and valiantly in both of our World Wars, and now continue to serve its veterans each Memorial Day.
With regard to the immediate neighbors, who are probably most concerned and fearful about depreciating property values or the avian flu scare, need also to give this a second look. After all, if their property has not suffered significantly after some twenty-seven years, it’s not likely that much will change over just a few more years, by which time their owner can easily find them a new home. Also they can treasure this story of the neighborhood “birdman” and share it with their grandchildren for many future generations to come. Long after all of us are gone!
The immediate neighbors should also know that racing homing pigeons, particularly when cared for over a long period by the same owner, are some of the healthiest birds alive. This, of course, is already clearly seen by the fact that Clintonville’s Health Inspector has reportedly testified that over the years he has inspected Mr. Kruger’s property as many as ten times without finding any problems requiring him to issue a citation.
I am concerned here that whenever any segment of planet earth’s family is separated from us we all suffer a loss of Spirit, and meaning in our lives. We need to replace this attitude of fear with one of hope and generosity. I am looking forward to following this story.
I am a seventy-one year old retiree who has raised and cared for homing pigeons myself. ---in a town of about 3000 residents and very much like Clintonville, I discovered this when I read about your very fine town on your friendly web site. This morning I read in my newspaper about one hundred fair feathered friends living in Clintonville, WI. I read that they are about to be evicted from their home of twenty-seven years.
I was especially saddened when I read the comments of Clintonville’s city administrator, Lisa Kotter, who when asked about the recent court order to evict these birds said, and I quote, “Cities do have the right to regulate licensing and zoning,” and then, seemingly in a rather arrogant and insensitive cavalier-like fashion, she added, “Sometimes we change the rules.” My aim in this letter is not intended to intrude into your fine community’s business. Certainly your city has the right and the obligation to regulate those municipal areas deemed necessary by your city council. Based only on my newspaper’s story, however, I do want to propose that the Council consider granting Mr. Kruger, the owner of the these birds, who by the way, currently holds permits to keep his flock of racing homers in his backyard, be allowed to continue to do so via the “grandfathered-in clause.”
Otherwise I feel that there our many citizens of planet earth, like myself, who will see this proposed ban as being executed in an unnecessarily arbitrary and harsh fashion. After all the homing pigeon is a “domesticated Rock Pigeon of the “Columba livia” class that has been selectively bred to be able to find its way home over extremely long distances. This fact by the way is what makes their potential capricious separation or exclusion from your community of much greater concern than otherwise. This particular community of homing pigeons for 27 years have had no other home, and it is very likely that if they are abruptly vacated from their home, this instability in their lives will continue for many generations to come, if not for ever.
Before reading your administrators dispassionate comments I was quite impressed with just how socially and civically responsible these now about to be evicted winged neighbors have been in Clintonville. I learned that they had served their community in ways that only a pigeon can ---by flying back to their home lofts from funerals, weddings, parades and even from Memorial Day services in Sheboygan, WI.
What seems regrettable is that rather than seeing these little winged friends as a special case and as special neighbors, now almost a community tradition, and continuing to welcome them into your community, they undoubtedly are being perceived now as a mistake, a nuisance, a problem, or just a pain in the neck. Perhaps it’s still not too late to save these loyal winged friends. Perhaps the Clintonville Chamber of Commerce or local American Legion post could market their “lofty home” here as a unique and wonderful story. A time when the people of Clintonville honored their special winged friends as a bastion of patriots whose earlier generations served our country loyally and valiantly in both of our World Wars, and now continue to serve its veterans each Memorial Day.
With regard to the immediate neighbors, who are probably most concerned and fearful about depreciating property values or the avian flu scare, need also to give this a second look. After all, if their property has not suffered significantly after some twenty-seven years, it’s not likely that much will change over just a few more years, by which time their owner can easily find them a new home. Also they can treasure this story of the neighborhood “birdman” and share it with their grandchildren for many future generations to come. Long after all of us are gone!
The immediate neighbors should also know that racing homing pigeons, particularly when cared for over a long period by the same owner, are some of the healthiest birds alive. This, of course, is already clearly seen by the fact that Clintonville’s Health Inspector has reportedly testified that over the years he has inspected Mr. Kruger’s property as many as ten times without finding any problems requiring him to issue a citation.
I am concerned here that whenever any segment of planet earth’s family is separated from us we all suffer a loss of Spirit, and meaning in our lives. We need to replace this attitude of fear with one of hope and generosity. I am looking forward to following this story.
Patriot Act Surveillance Alert
I learned on the Jim Lehrer News Hour (www.pbs.org/newshour/) this evening (11/7/05) that if you have a bank account, an investment account or use your library card your name along with your e-mail sent and received transactions may now be permanently kept on file in several government agencies. In the name of “information related to terror investigations,” National Security Letters sent by the FBI are now being sent to financial and telecommunication companies throughout the United States asking for such files. Each letter sent by the FBI may result in a company providing dozens or even hundreds of such “confidential” records. This means that hundreds of thousands of such records are now already in Uncle Sam’s data base. This, I believe will be news to many of us.
Open Records Law
A happy reader!
It is not often that I read the newspaper anymore when I find something that provides me with some real hope that we can reform our state government, and that makes me so proud to be a citizen of this country. Phil Brinkman’s piece on our State’s open records law which demands transparency throughout state government was just the tonic I needed.
It was unfortunate however that in trying to hook the readers’ attention he saw fit to pretend to malign how this law was being implemented. His opening paragraph implied that compliance to this law was also serving to break another law ---mainly that state officials when responding to open records requests from challengers and the media were illegally doing it at the taxpayers’ expense. I quote, “…public employees are still openly engaging in campaign work on state time and with state resources.” How flagrantly unfair and misleading can a reporter be? Shame on Mr. Brinkman!
To respond and perform responsibly to the letter and spirit of this fine and milestone law is not and should not be construed otherwise. When government practices are being scrutinized by both independent and partisan citizens, there can be no better safeguards to our democratic system. In fact it was reassuring to learn that this law was being obeyed to the letter and spirit of the law by our public servants, including not allowing efforts to abuse this law. Finally, this reader can’t believe that our open record law allows state officials to release public records to a person without requiring them to identify themselves, as Mr. Brinkman’s piece states.
Respectfully,
William R. Benedict
It is not often that I read the newspaper anymore when I find something that provides me with some real hope that we can reform our state government, and that makes me so proud to be a citizen of this country. Phil Brinkman’s piece on our State’s open records law which demands transparency throughout state government was just the tonic I needed.
It was unfortunate however that in trying to hook the readers’ attention he saw fit to pretend to malign how this law was being implemented. His opening paragraph implied that compliance to this law was also serving to break another law ---mainly that state officials when responding to open records requests from challengers and the media were illegally doing it at the taxpayers’ expense. I quote, “…public employees are still openly engaging in campaign work on state time and with state resources.” How flagrantly unfair and misleading can a reporter be? Shame on Mr. Brinkman!
To respond and perform responsibly to the letter and spirit of this fine and milestone law is not and should not be construed otherwise. When government practices are being scrutinized by both independent and partisan citizens, there can be no better safeguards to our democratic system. In fact it was reassuring to learn that this law was being obeyed to the letter and spirit of the law by our public servants, including not allowing efforts to abuse this law. Finally, this reader can’t believe that our open record law allows state officials to release public records to a person without requiring them to identify themselves, as Mr. Brinkman’s piece states.
Respectfully,
William R. Benedict
Right to “Free” Speech
Letter to the Editor
The catchy title of the Wisconsin State Journal’s recent article, “Issue ads become an issue,” by Dee J. Hall provoked strong feelings in me. To think that such secretive, shady, underhanded, chicanery-like political and economic practices can be legitimized as “free speech” and protected by Wisconsin campaign laws and the Constitution of the United States makes me sick at my stomach. Is this really what our forefathers fought and died for?
Why do we continue to call what we do during election time as exercising our individual freedom and liberty when we have forfeited these rights only to the rich and powerful? In this instant, how arrogant and what a shame that the spokesman for the mighty and the powerful, when asked how much his group was spending and where the money came from, could only brag that his special interest group’s spending is the “right to unfettered campaign ‘speech’ and constitutionally protected. Since when does secret money and the right to free speech become the same thing?
Where were the American people when our state legislature sold our individual voting rights to big moneyed interests? When did we first allow giant corporations to pay for our elections and by so doing take away from each of us a free and unfettered right to vote for a candidate who is economically free of the influence of the rich and most powerful? When did special interests groups become more important than a free and economically unfettered franchise?
If you feel as I do please demand that your elected representatives vote to ban the use of private money to finance public campaign elections. If this takes a constitutional amendment, then so be it. Both your children and mine and their grandchildren deserve northing less. Let us return our democracy to all the people.
Please see the Madison chapter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP)’ website http://nsp.madisonwi.us/ or call Beth Wortzel at 255-8838
Respectfully,
William R. Benedict
The catchy title of the Wisconsin State Journal’s recent article, “Issue ads become an issue,” by Dee J. Hall provoked strong feelings in me. To think that such secretive, shady, underhanded, chicanery-like political and economic practices can be legitimized as “free speech” and protected by Wisconsin campaign laws and the Constitution of the United States makes me sick at my stomach. Is this really what our forefathers fought and died for?
Why do we continue to call what we do during election time as exercising our individual freedom and liberty when we have forfeited these rights only to the rich and powerful? In this instant, how arrogant and what a shame that the spokesman for the mighty and the powerful, when asked how much his group was spending and where the money came from, could only brag that his special interest group’s spending is the “right to unfettered campaign ‘speech’ and constitutionally protected. Since when does secret money and the right to free speech become the same thing?
Where were the American people when our state legislature sold our individual voting rights to big moneyed interests? When did we first allow giant corporations to pay for our elections and by so doing take away from each of us a free and unfettered right to vote for a candidate who is economically free of the influence of the rich and most powerful? When did special interests groups become more important than a free and economically unfettered franchise?
If you feel as I do please demand that your elected representatives vote to ban the use of private money to finance public campaign elections. If this takes a constitutional amendment, then so be it. Both your children and mine and their grandchildren deserve northing less. Let us return our democracy to all the people.
Please see the Madison chapter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP)’ website http://nsp.madisonwi.us/ or call Beth Wortzel at 255-8838
Respectfully,
William R. Benedict
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