On Saturday, June 5th, the KAXE-Grand Rapids Annual Meeting was held. Many changes were announced. Whether the medium is newspapers, news magazines, radio, TV, social networks, blogs, I-pods, or I-phone browsers, we are in a blizzard of change.
So when resolutions for our Northern Community Radio meeting were requested, I thought "Let's initiate some changes of our own here!"
In the interest of governance and accountability - let's try to make a difference. New public money is coming in. How will we spend it? Here's a start -
A POLKA CAUCUS
At the KAXE Annual Meeting Saturday, June 5th, the membership voted to approve this resolution -
resolved "That a 'Polka Caucus' be created for three months in 2010 from July 1 - September 30, Also known as the 'European Roots Music of the (Iron) Range.'
For three months this body will develop and suggest programming for a monthly
'Polka Time Event' - on the air - under the tent - and featuring accordians and fiddles. Respectfully submitted, Gord Prickett"
WHY A POLKA CAUCUS? WHAT COULD IT DO?
In my opinion, the musical offerings on FM 91.7 lack diversity.
With new state legacy tax money currently available to enhance the cultural and historic aspects of our radio broadcasts, possibly the means for doing this already exist within the KAXE membership.
For example, beyond the frequently-heard blues and hard rock in the current mix of KAXE programming, there exists a legacy of the Eastern European, Scandinavian, Celtic immigrant musicians who arrived here a century ago with the timber and mining development of Northeastern Minnesota.
If you would like to be a member of this Polka Caucus, just email gordmett@emily.net to learn more.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
The New Normal
In recent weeks news stories and interviews have come out with speculation about what will follow after the Great Recession that began about 2007. Economists are pretty sure that gross products have risen in the last few quarters, so technically, there is no more recession. But home foreclosures are still at record numbers, as seen in every newspaper. Many workers without jobs remain jobless for a year and longer. Businesses struggle to find customers and hang onto employees.
In these tough times I get more than a little upset when pundits and politicians profess to know everything that should have been done differently, and now have the answers to all of our problems. Just read their columns, watch their shows, vote their way, and all will get better. Right!
Enter the phrase "The New Normal." This expression describes how some of these forecasters expect things will turn out - when we are recovered from this economic collapse. Many people, the idea goes, are going to scale back on their expectations of living large. Spending of discretionary money will slow down. Folks will remember about saving for a rainy day, instead of relying on credit to supply whatever they want when they want it. They will do their diligence before making large purchases and investments.
Interest in healthier lifestyles and preventive medicine will grow, as the consequences of harmful habits and lost healthcare coverage begin to sink in. Maybe this is a lot of wishful thinking, but why not indulge in it for just a while longer?
WE, THE INVASIVE SPECIES
I was asked to give a luncheon talk about the "Waters of Aitkin County" not long ago, and it occurred to me how much can change when a harmful species invades a region. No, I wasn’t thinking about Eurasian Water Milfoil or Zebra Mussels, or even Curley Leaf Pondweed. It was the European Settlement from the early 1800s to the present time. Homo Sapiens from the "Old Countries."
Native Americans had lived light on the land around here for ages. And our waters were pristine. Without chainsaws and bulldozers, the shorelands were natural and the lakes were healthy. So I read the audience a short list of "Best Shoreline Practices" and suggested that this list could help us towards a "New Normal" in which we will all live better.
In these tough times I get more than a little upset when pundits and politicians profess to know everything that should have been done differently, and now have the answers to all of our problems. Just read their columns, watch their shows, vote their way, and all will get better. Right!
Enter the phrase "The New Normal." This expression describes how some of these forecasters expect things will turn out - when we are recovered from this economic collapse. Many people, the idea goes, are going to scale back on their expectations of living large. Spending of discretionary money will slow down. Folks will remember about saving for a rainy day, instead of relying on credit to supply whatever they want when they want it. They will do their diligence before making large purchases and investments.
Interest in healthier lifestyles and preventive medicine will grow, as the consequences of harmful habits and lost healthcare coverage begin to sink in. Maybe this is a lot of wishful thinking, but why not indulge in it for just a while longer?
WE, THE INVASIVE SPECIES
I was asked to give a luncheon talk about the "Waters of Aitkin County" not long ago, and it occurred to me how much can change when a harmful species invades a region. No, I wasn’t thinking about Eurasian Water Milfoil or Zebra Mussels, or even Curley Leaf Pondweed. It was the European Settlement from the early 1800s to the present time. Homo Sapiens from the "Old Countries."
Native Americans had lived light on the land around here for ages. And our waters were pristine. Without chainsaws and bulldozers, the shorelands were natural and the lakes were healthy. So I read the audience a short list of "Best Shoreline Practices" and suggested that this list could help us towards a "New Normal" in which we will all live better.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Time for a Change
Two years ago this Blog started with an angry title "Deregulate This!" It was a time of great anxiety and collapse. With war, recession, deficits, and despair. This week, after long months of turbulence and disagreement in the halls of government, we have an answer to one of the most urgent national issues of the last six decades. Namely, "What about the lack of access and the inequities of healthcare in America?" Congress has just passed, and the President today has signed, the Health Care Reform Act of 2010.
Other vital issues are still on the table. Financial Reform, Immigration, Unemployment, Energy and Climate. But we can hear again the voices from the 2008 Presidential Campaign. "Yes, we can!"
Action finally has been taken. We have remembered how to solve difficult problems. And so I have decided to change the name of this Blog to "Reregulate This!" Smart governmental regulations, fairly applied, can begin again to restore some faith in our future.
Other vital issues are still on the table. Financial Reform, Immigration, Unemployment, Energy and Climate. But we can hear again the voices from the 2008 Presidential Campaign. "Yes, we can!"
Action finally has been taken. We have remembered how to solve difficult problems. And so I have decided to change the name of this Blog to "Reregulate This!" Smart governmental regulations, fairly applied, can begin again to restore some faith in our future.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
BEST PRACTICES: Ask for 'em!
In this age of anger, citizens and consumers are demanding answers to their urgent questions. Japanese automobiles are lurching out of control and getting recalled. Somebody tells you that a proposed new Medicare “Death Panel” could put you or Grandpa away if you get very sick - and are too old. Makes your blood boil!
What’s going on here is a reaction to our prolonged deep recession, with two endless wars, and widespread uncertainty about the future. Money is tight. Storefronts have emptied, and every week foreclosure notices fill the newspapers where want ads used to be. The question for our times, I submit, is this "the best you can do?" In a number of industries, leading professional and executive bodies have developed the concept of “Best Management Practices” to insure that standards are high and are maintained, in order to insure excellent outcomes. Such examples can be found in manufacturing, mining, and forestry.
SHORELAND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
In Aitkin County we adopted Alternative Shoreland Standards into our Shoreland Management Ordinance back in the Fall of 2008. We selected those options from the North Central Lakes Project that included five partnering counties, that contain 21% of Minnesota’s lakes. Another product from this recent project was a set of ten shoreland Best Management Practices (BMPs) to address the cumulative effects on our lakes of population growth, population density and land use change.
Here are the Top Ten BMPs, to inspire us, as we contemplate “Ice Out” in just a few more weeks:
1. Preserve or create a natural shoreline.
2. Relax. Reduce your lawn. Keep your trees.
3. Learn what you can and cannot do, on or to the lake and lakeshore.
4. Minimize rooftops and driveways.
5. Maintain your septic system.
6. Keep native aquatic plants.
7. Manage your pet and livestock waste.
8. Be considerate of other lake users.
9. Encourage and support land conservation.
10. Show up. Speak up. Serve or write a check to support local efforts.
For more information about how to follow through with these BMPs, you can talk to your lake association leaders, if you are a lakeshore dweller, or else call the Aitkin County Water Planning Task Force at 218-927-6565.
What’s going on here is a reaction to our prolonged deep recession, with two endless wars, and widespread uncertainty about the future. Money is tight. Storefronts have emptied, and every week foreclosure notices fill the newspapers where want ads used to be. The question for our times, I submit, is this "the best you can do?" In a number of industries, leading professional and executive bodies have developed the concept of “Best Management Practices” to insure that standards are high and are maintained, in order to insure excellent outcomes. Such examples can be found in manufacturing, mining, and forestry.
SHORELAND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
In Aitkin County we adopted Alternative Shoreland Standards into our Shoreland Management Ordinance back in the Fall of 2008. We selected those options from the North Central Lakes Project that included five partnering counties, that contain 21% of Minnesota’s lakes. Another product from this recent project was a set of ten shoreland Best Management Practices (BMPs) to address the cumulative effects on our lakes of population growth, population density and land use change.
Here are the Top Ten BMPs, to inspire us, as we contemplate “Ice Out” in just a few more weeks:
1. Preserve or create a natural shoreline.
2. Relax. Reduce your lawn. Keep your trees.
3. Learn what you can and cannot do, on or to the lake and lakeshore.
4. Minimize rooftops and driveways.
5. Maintain your septic system.
6. Keep native aquatic plants.
7. Manage your pet and livestock waste.
8. Be considerate of other lake users.
9. Encourage and support land conservation.
10. Show up. Speak up. Serve or write a check to support local efforts.
For more information about how to follow through with these BMPs, you can talk to your lake association leaders, if you are a lakeshore dweller, or else call the Aitkin County Water Planning Task Force at 218-927-6565.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Cut State Government: Shrink the Legislature!
Watching Governor Pawlenty speak about "state" taxes this week, while cashing his paycheck and receiving Cadillac health coverage, set me to searching for some obvious and symbolic cost reductions. There was a rapid stirring among our 201 legislators to this State of the State speech, with sound bites galore.
Wait a minute. Why does Minnesota have so many legislative districts? For State Representatives there are 134. Two each in every one of 67 State Senate Districts.
The latest U.S. Census population estimate for the Gopher State is 5.22 million persons. Looking at our neighboring states to the East, Wisconsin holds 5.63 million persons, and Michigan, 10.0 million.
But their bicameral legislatures are smaller than Minnesota's! In Wisconsin's upper body there are just 33 Senators. In the lower Assembly, 99 State Representatives.
You guessed it. Michigan also has fewer legislators. In the State Senate, 38 Senators, and in the House are 110 Representatives.
Here is what I recommend. We need a Constitutional Amendment to redistrict Minnesota according to our 2010 Census, providing just 102 House Districts, down from 134.
And only 51 Senate Districts, no longer 67.
The money saved will be significant, when there will be one fourth fewer public servants to house and support in the Capitol, and across the state.
Wait a minute. Why does Minnesota have so many legislative districts? For State Representatives there are 134. Two each in every one of 67 State Senate Districts.
The latest U.S. Census population estimate for the Gopher State is 5.22 million persons. Looking at our neighboring states to the East, Wisconsin holds 5.63 million persons, and Michigan, 10.0 million.
But their bicameral legislatures are smaller than Minnesota's! In Wisconsin's upper body there are just 33 Senators. In the lower Assembly, 99 State Representatives.
You guessed it. Michigan also has fewer legislators. In the State Senate, 38 Senators, and in the House are 110 Representatives.
Here is what I recommend. We need a Constitutional Amendment to redistrict Minnesota according to our 2010 Census, providing just 102 House Districts, down from 134.
And only 51 Senate Districts, no longer 67.
The money saved will be significant, when there will be one fourth fewer public servants to house and support in the Capitol, and across the state.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Are We Lost Yet?
With Monday morning's New York Times came an Op-Ed piece by Princeton Economics Professor Paul Krugman, a regular columnist. His view of the capacity of the American Government to manage our nation was dire. He writes,
"We've always known that America's reign as the world's greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic."
"What we're getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce. Instead of fraying under the strain of imperial overstretch, we're paralyzed by procedure. Instead of reenacting the decline and fall of Rome, we're re-enacting the dissolution of 18th century Poland."
After recounting the "disappearance" of all Polish territory by 1795, Krugman accuses the U.S. Senate of a determination to make that failed Polish legislature look good by comparison to the current U.S. Congress.
As one who had high hopes for the two Democratic-led branches of our newly-elected
government, I have to agree today that America is nearly lost, and that our government is largely dysfunctional in this winter of severe discontent.
In 2009 we saw the dragged-out delay until June in seating Senator Franken, who provided the 60th vote to end continual GOP filibustering. Then incredibly, the long overdue healthcare reform was blocked for the entire year. In stalled senate committees, and with industry-scripted campaigns of distortion and lying, a "movement emerged" to capture media attention and interrupt serious law making.
Now in 2010 we have one senator after another holding up presidential appointments to federal positions, and action on practically anything, because the warped Senate customs permit it, and because narrow-gauge politicians hold Senate performance hostage for their petty and partisan gain.
Wall Street had been rescued from collapse by two administrations, only to continue now with its unregulated instruments of deception and its culture of obscene bonus payouts with other people's money. Congressional action? Not with the current paralysis.
In a world threatened by changing climate, terrorized by desperate fighters who violently are resisting age-old conquest and domination, the United States cannot even write sensible laws about its immigrants, its schools, or modern air and rail travel.
With permanent job losses and housing foreclosures killing the dreams of generations,
one would hope that we could come together to address our many economic and fiscal problems. Yet we are collectively afraid to redesign and levy fair taxes for public purposes! At any level of government.
Yes, I must admit that America's best days have already occurred - some decades in the past. Rather than hope now for a rebirth of patriotism, I can only pray for divine intervention.
"We've always known that America's reign as the world's greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic."
"What we're getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce. Instead of fraying under the strain of imperial overstretch, we're paralyzed by procedure. Instead of reenacting the decline and fall of Rome, we're re-enacting the dissolution of 18th century Poland."
After recounting the "disappearance" of all Polish territory by 1795, Krugman accuses the U.S. Senate of a determination to make that failed Polish legislature look good by comparison to the current U.S. Congress.
As one who had high hopes for the two Democratic-led branches of our newly-elected
government, I have to agree today that America is nearly lost, and that our government is largely dysfunctional in this winter of severe discontent.
In 2009 we saw the dragged-out delay until June in seating Senator Franken, who provided the 60th vote to end continual GOP filibustering. Then incredibly, the long overdue healthcare reform was blocked for the entire year. In stalled senate committees, and with industry-scripted campaigns of distortion and lying, a "movement emerged" to capture media attention and interrupt serious law making.
Now in 2010 we have one senator after another holding up presidential appointments to federal positions, and action on practically anything, because the warped Senate customs permit it, and because narrow-gauge politicians hold Senate performance hostage for their petty and partisan gain.
Wall Street had been rescued from collapse by two administrations, only to continue now with its unregulated instruments of deception and its culture of obscene bonus payouts with other people's money. Congressional action? Not with the current paralysis.
In a world threatened by changing climate, terrorized by desperate fighters who violently are resisting age-old conquest and domination, the United States cannot even write sensible laws about its immigrants, its schools, or modern air and rail travel.
With permanent job losses and housing foreclosures killing the dreams of generations,
one would hope that we could come together to address our many economic and fiscal problems. Yet we are collectively afraid to redesign and levy fair taxes for public purposes! At any level of government.
Yes, I must admit that America's best days have already occurred - some decades in the past. Rather than hope now for a rebirth of patriotism, I can only pray for divine intervention.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Supremes Speak of "Speech"
News was made this third week in January: Fragile Haiti Beyond Recovery,
Massachusetts Replaces a Senator Kennedy, Obama Completes First Year, and
Corporations Given Voices by U.S. Supreme Judges.
Let's look at the last story. By a slim margin, 5 to 4, the Supreme Court overturned decades of regulations and precedents for the country's election campaigns. Basically, five conservative justices removed restrictions on corporations that prevent them from directly funding elections.
That's right, AT&T or EXXON-Mobil can reward their friends in Congress for passing the current telecommunications law and for the lack of any climate change legislation in the last decade, directly from their general treasury.
The reasoning of the Majority who decided the about-face goes like this:
Corporations, like individual citizens, have First Amendment rights to free speech. Those parts of campaign finance laws that limit corporate contributions are violations of the right to corporate "free speech."
A personal note: I have been well treated over decades by a number of U.S. corporations. A college scholarship, a graduate fellowship, a number of good technology jobs with increasing responsibility and benefits, and a retirement pension that includes a qualifying prescription drug plan.
As an "exempt" (from overtime) management employee, I contributed to the Company's Political Action Committee (PAC) and attended the political meetings with friendly elected Representatives and Senators, along with ranking Company officials.
However, the corporations I worked for, existed to provide services and products for our customers. We provided good jobs for company employees, and our profits returned dividends and stock value to the shareholders. We also provided contributions to the communities in which we operated. Our purpose was never to use revenue from customers to pay for the political campaigns of our friends.
What about corporate "Speech"? I have searched for the source of a quote I heard years ago and still enjoy repeating. In the 1700s Edward Thurlow in England is reported to have argued that "the company was only a juristic figment of the imagination, lacking both a body to be kicked and a soul to be damned."
To sum up this week in Washington D. C., Damn those Five Judges!
Massachusetts Replaces a Senator Kennedy, Obama Completes First Year, and
Corporations Given Voices by U.S. Supreme Judges.
Let's look at the last story. By a slim margin, 5 to 4, the Supreme Court overturned decades of regulations and precedents for the country's election campaigns. Basically, five conservative justices removed restrictions on corporations that prevent them from directly funding elections.
That's right, AT&T or EXXON-Mobil can reward their friends in Congress for passing the current telecommunications law and for the lack of any climate change legislation in the last decade, directly from their general treasury.
The reasoning of the Majority who decided the about-face goes like this:
Corporations, like individual citizens, have First Amendment rights to free speech. Those parts of campaign finance laws that limit corporate contributions are violations of the right to corporate "free speech."
A personal note: I have been well treated over decades by a number of U.S. corporations. A college scholarship, a graduate fellowship, a number of good technology jobs with increasing responsibility and benefits, and a retirement pension that includes a qualifying prescription drug plan.
As an "exempt" (from overtime) management employee, I contributed to the Company's Political Action Committee (PAC) and attended the political meetings with friendly elected Representatives and Senators, along with ranking Company officials.
However, the corporations I worked for, existed to provide services and products for our customers. We provided good jobs for company employees, and our profits returned dividends and stock value to the shareholders. We also provided contributions to the communities in which we operated. Our purpose was never to use revenue from customers to pay for the political campaigns of our friends.
What about corporate "Speech"? I have searched for the source of a quote I heard years ago and still enjoy repeating. In the 1700s Edward Thurlow in England is reported to have argued that "the company was only a juristic figment of the imagination, lacking both a body to be kicked and a soul to be damned."
To sum up this week in Washington D. C., Damn those Five Judges!
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