I. EDITOR'S NOTE
II. ACTION
GEORGIST CONTENDS FOR RUSSIAN LEADERSHIP
***Moscow Mayor Luzhkov Approved by Regional Governors;
***Major Populist Urban and Rural Parties Are Now United!
***Communists, Neo-Capitalists Both Strongly Opposed
***Reuters Maligns Coalition, Implies Corruption, Fears [Geo-
Friendly] Primakov Will Join, Make New Party "Unstoppable"
The Georgist Agenda in Africa
***Call for a New Way to Fight Anti-Georgism in RSA
***RSA's Border Countries Not Strangers to Land Tax:
Georgist Addresses United Nations Settlement Conference
in Nairobi; Zimbabwe Scoffs at Compensation for Land Tax
Georgists Return Hopeful from High-Level Meetings in Cuba
Local US Officials Convene, Release Opinion Data; Sprawl,
the Nemesis of Rural And Urban Leaders Across America
'US Economy Stagnating' Say Recent Data, Fear Growing
III. WORD
PRESS-WATCH:
The Times 'Tweaks Nose' of Aristocracy
Anti-Cop Backtracking Re: Racial Profiling
WATCH-WATCH: Progress and Poverty Among Media Critics
Sprawl, Watch.
Larry the Elder: "Is Government to Blame?"
Independent Verification: April 22-Earth Day Is A Scam
GEO-WATCH: Update on Georgist Media Activity
Georgist Brochure Design Contest
Foldvary's New Online American History Paper
IV. NETWORK
Upcoming Events with Geo-Outreach Potential
Info Sources of Possible Geo-Utility
V. OTHER NOTES
The New Kerensky?
Russia (Thu 5 Aug 1999) - Yesterday, Yuri Luzhkov, the Pro-Georgist Mayor of
Moscow, was officially endorsed to be Russia's next leader, by the leader of
Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiyev. Each lead large populist movements from urban
and rural areas, respectively.
BBC World News Wednesday evening led with NATO's change of leadership and the emergence of the new power coalition in Russia.
The unity of Luzhkov's "Fatherland Movement" and Shaimiyev's "All-Russia Party" is believed to represent a majority large enough to defeat all but a coalition between Communists and the neo-classical reformers responsible for Russia's current situation. Curiously to anyone but Georgists, both of those two groups are in extreme opposition to this likely 'new' direction for Russian leadership. [Yes, Virginia, there IS a Third Way!]
This is bad news, judging from the title of Adam Tanner's "aol://4344:3167.usmain.21044733.560711114" AOL-Only-News article for http://www.reuters.com/Reuters/ "ANALYSIS: Back-Room Politics Shape Russia's Future." Tanner's analysis begins:
"Grey-suited politicians have been gathering in smoke-filled rooms, plotting a path to power in Russia's imperfect democracy through an electoral bloc they see destined for victory even before campaigning starts."
Tanner made no mention of the similarity with the current political situation in the US. Most journalists are deriding America's presidential election in 2000 as being decided already. Tanner, though, repeatedly complains of Russia's new challenge to establishment power:
"Some experts already see Fatherland-All Russia as an unstoppable train, especially if Primakov comes on board."
Georgists know, through the world's premier Georgist magazine - http://users.charity.vfree.com/h/henrygeorge/LandAndL.html -Land And Liberty, that one of Primakov's advisers, Dmitry Lvov, is very aware of the importance of the land tax. Earlier this year, he published what's being called a "tome" on, basically, the necessity to establish the land tax system in Russia. Some major Georgists have been indicating for quite a while that the Georgist movement in Russia is a forced to be reckoned with and would be maybe even more than just influential in upcoming elections. Luzhkov was, in fact, named the most likely heir-apparent to Yeltsin months ago in the pages of the international Georgist print flagship, http://users.charity.vfree.com/h/henrygeorge/LandAndL.htm
The attempt, in the Reuters piece, to guide reader opinion is actually overt; the 3 main political forces and their leaders now competing for control of Russia:
Luzhkov: "bald, take-charge" kind of guy
Communists: "direct descendants of the Soviet Communist Party, ..." who "retain a loyal minority following especially among older Russians. But they are hampered by a drab if decent leader in Gennady Zyuganov."
Reformers [current regime]: "young reformers, mostly men in their 30s and 40s who ushered in the free-market reforms of the 1990s." "... the Right Cause bloc, have some charismatic leaders such as former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov. Others, like the father of the privatisation programme Anatoly Chubais, remain unpopular because of the pain associated with economic reform."
Also reported is that, for some vague reason, Yeltsin ought to want Luzhkov to be defeated. Tanner's analysis ends with a threatening quote from Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a Russian newspaper:
"`In August the presidential administration plans to strengthen its control fully over its structures, secure the support of most of the influential media, cut off political opponents from powerful financial companies, and from September come down with all its might on Luzhkov's group,' it said."
Wow! Proving neo-classical conspiracies used to be difficult; now, they
announce their formation and lead fight-songs in the mainstream press! Or,
maybe that's the "Back-Room Politics" to which the title of Tanner's item is
really referring.
----------
(Wed 4 Aug 1999) - The top story in BBC World News' evening television report
this evening was the coalition formed today between "The Fatherland Movement"
of Mayor Luzhkov of Moscow and "The All-Russia Party," with which many
regional leaders associate. The report described Luzhkov as "powerful,"
"hugely popular" and semi-"autocratic."
The BBC forwarded analyst statements that the new coalition "would challenge" the establishment in the next elections and that it is the "only serious threat" to the current neo-capitalist regime.
[According to some respected Georgist researchers, history suggests a pattern
wherein impending Georgist reform is interrupted by war. - AJM]
-----
(Mon 3 Aug 1999) - According to AP (Associated Press) last week, the IMF
(International Monetary Fund) has released $4.5 billion of loan money for
Russia, from an account frozen by the IMF for the past year.[1]
The fund transfer was "contingent on Russian parliamentary approval of a package of laws intended to increase government revenue, combat corruption and restructure the commercial banking system."
In December, AP said the IMF freeze was over worry Russia might "abandon market reforms or allow inflation to rise sharply" and wanted "to see a clear budget plan and more moves to boost tax revenues." "The IMF has been critical of the government's plans to boost state controls, cut consumption taxes and print money to fund its budget deficit."[2]
1: http://cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9907/28/imf.russia.01.ap
2: http://cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9812/02/russia.imf.01/index.html
- - - - - - - - - -
Southern Africa (Tue, 20 Jul 1999) - John James, a member of
http://www.henrygeorgeuk.cjb.net The Henry George Foundation of Great
Britain, is suggesting that Georgists prepare an open letter to the
current and past President(s) of The Republic of South Africa, similar to the
supplication made to Gorbachev, in the Russian press prior to the Soviet
Union's surprise overnight deconstruction.
Noting the latest GN report from Godfrey Dunkley concerning outside "experts" maneuvering a roll back of Georgist reform in the Republic of South Africa, Mr. James posits that such a letter (maybe even signed by a few Nobel Laureates) could save the RSA from a downhill slide.
[To help coordinate or lend support for this effort, email georgist@aol.com
The Georgist News]
-----
Nairobi (Sat 7 Aug 1999) - Mary Rose Kaczarowski, United Nations NGO
(Non-Governmental Organization) representative for
http://www.progress.org/cg - Common Ground-USA, America's most
organized political force, attended this year's UN Settlement Conference in
Nairobi, to gather appreciation for the ecological efficiency and economic
justice of shifting taxes from productivity to the use of resource.
"Redwood Mary," as she is happily and affectionately called, though young, is already an historic figure in the Georgist movement having engineered in tandem with Judith Vidaver, the inclusion of http://www.progress.org/progs/wwwboard/messages/6431.html fundamentally key geo-text to the 1996 UN Istanbul II Habitat Agenda.
Kaczarowski's Nairobi report, the lead story in the latest issue of
Groundswell, from http://www.progress.org/cgCommon Ground-USA/
is available online at their http://www.progress.org/cg/news.htm
What's New Page as well as the position paper she submitted to UN Conferees
on the crucial link between http://www.progress.org/cg/khuman.htm
Human Settlement and Land Access Strategies
Also online from the latest issue is a detailed and highly geo-politically
educational article from the most successful American Georgist political
leader today, State Representative Richard Noyes, about
http://www.progress.org/cg/noyesnh.htm
Land Tax Vs Income Tax for New Hampshire
Not online from the latest issue: Oregon LVT Initiative Momentum Building;
Geonomy President Jeff Smith's report on the BIEN (Basic Income European
Network) Conference in Amsterdam (where a recurring issue was the sharing of
resource rental); and, as always, the brilliantly biting "Insights" of
Stanley and Marion Sapiro.
-----
Southern Africa (Fri 6 Aug 1999) - Georgist researcher and activist Joshua
Vincent recently ran across an interesting article from a July '98 issue of -
www.africaonline.co.zw/fingaz/99/stage/archive/990701/earth25108.html
- The Financial Gazette, a widely distributed and online news service
covering Southern Africa. Vincent made readers of "Land-Theory,"
pimann@pobox.com Dan Sullivan's popular Georgist email discussion list,
aware of the piece. According to one of FG's geo-indignant staff reporters,
"The government, frantically seeking ways to finance its land reform scheme, ... says the government's contribution, ... will be financed through a Land Redistribution Fund that will be established to invest incomes gained from land taxation, rental fees and other service charges."
and ends,
"Msika [Natl. Land Reform Director] backed [President] Mugabe's constant refusal to pay full compensation for the land which the government seizes from mostly white farmers. 'We are not going to pay market prices for land which has been lying idle and which has only been kept for speculative purposes,' Msika said. 'We will only pay for developments ...'"
"The international donors have repeatedly insisted that the government should compensate the farmers fully for both their land and improvements on a willing-seller, willing-buyer basis."
The identity of "international donors" was no further clarified.
Josh Vincent is Director of The Henry George Foundation of America
- - - - - - - - - -
Will Cuba Finally Libre`?!!
New York City (Wed 28 Jul 1999) - Last weekend, Georgist heavy-weight Ted
Gwartney, Director of http://www.progress.org/books The Robert
Schalkenbach Foundation/, returned from a major Georgist mission to Cuba
along with group leader and mission organizer, Ramsey Clark (the former US
Attorney General), Michael Hudson, author and international finance expert
and Dr. Cornelia Wunsch, a respected economist from the former East Germany.
The meetings, says Gwartney, with Ricardo Alarcón (effectively the number 3 man in Cuban government) and with other influential Cuban economists and officials "went well, ... Well, actually, they went very well."
Does this mean Cuba's g(e)oing for it? Gwartney says Georgists will be very
interested to learn the contents of his red-hot report, now in preparation by
editors of http://users.charity.vfree.com/h/henrygeorge/LandAndL.html
Land And Liberty!
[I apologize for failing to report sooner on the exciting Georgist mission to
Cuba! - AJM]
- - - - - - - - - -
Local US Leaders Talking Sprawl
USA (Mon 2 Aug 1999) - Survey results, from among US Mayors and County
officials, were released this summer at the annual conference of The US
Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Counties in New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Popular sentiment among US Mayors and County officials seems to indicate that what Georgists advocate, a shift in property tax rates to favor centralization instead of speculation, should be at the top of their "to do" list. Following are excerpts from: www.usmayors.org/uscm/news/press_releases/documents/survey.htm - a press release on the survey results at the USCM's Web site
"86 percent agreed or strongly agreed that land for new or expanded retail or other commercial development is available in their communities, and 57 percent agreed or strongly agreed that a significant workforce of unemployed or underemployed persons is available in their communities."
"Nearly all of the officials - 97 percent in both city and county groups -- saw the challenges, any or all of them, as regional in scope."
"All of the county officials and 97 percent of the city officials agreed that "expanding housing and homeownership opportunities in the urban core of our region would benefit the entire nation."
"Eighty-one percent of the county officials reported increases in challenges related to limiting the negative effects of sprawl and in cutting traffic congestion; ..."
Contact info mentioned in connection with the press release:
US Conference of Mayors, Katie Cullen (202) 293-7330
National Association of Counties, Tom Goodman (202) 942-4222
HUD (US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development), David Egner (202) 708-0685
-----
In conjunction with a letter-lobby package on sprawl and the
counter-productive results likely from trying to fight it by promoting the
profitability of land speculation, - http://www.progress.org/cgCommon -
Ground-USA members were notified about an article inabout sprawl, the battle
to fight it and, mostly, the amount of money being spent to do so. The
proper way, unfortunately, was given no coverage, but the political weight
of the sprawl issue is clear, as CQ points out:
"The bipartisan National Governors' Association approved a position paper Feb. 21 that begins with this premise: 'Governors in every region of the nation recognize the need to change suburban growth patterns.'"
The ironic stupidity of some of the proposals CQ mentions goes uncovered in their lengthy report thereon. There are casual references to the popular idea of using royalties from more marginal natural resources, like oil, to buy out land speculators and appears to call "straightforward," the proposal to spend a record $6.1 billion (to fight sprawl ...) on more public transportation.
CQ's glossy monthly, "Governing," puts highlights from the print version online. The August edition cover is a photo, taken from a helicopter, of Las Vegas exploding geographically. The headline, in bold army-style font, reads: "Operation Desert Sprawl: The biggest issue in booming Las Vegas isn't growth. It's finding somebody to pay the staggering costs of growth."
This is absurd. Can it be that the every single political and non-profit organization in the US are suggesting we institute revenue transfers from producers to land speculators in an effort to REDUCE sprawl? This has to be, at least, the joke of the year so far.
Is this so complicated? Tax sprawl! Need a little more help?
- - - - - - - - - -
USA Ed Dodson/GNS (Fri 30 Jul 1999) - According to the http://www.mbaa.org/MBAA
(Mortgage Bankers Association of America), loan applications are down
over 25% here from the same time last year. The US' National Association of
Realtors keeps a "Housing Affordability Index," which suggests the nation's
renters may have to remain so and potential home buyers remain but potential
a bit longer than they thought. MBAA'a monthly "Economic Commentary" for
August warns "The prolonged boom in housing of the past eight years may be
coming to an end, ..."
Suggestions for longer standard mortgages are not yet being widely mentioned. Right now, 30 years on 2 average-to-moderate incomes is considered normal. The recent change amounts to the addition of about $100 to the average mortgage. ["he has wound the rope about the stake until he stands a close prisoner, ..., unable even to toss his head to rid him of the flies that cluster on his shoulders." - Henry George: Introduction to Protection or Free Trade (1888)]
As the nation and the world ride the edge of their seats waiting to see if Greenspan-omics will make investments retain their value after the end of the world, the guru makes clear he does not intend to be held in any way accountable for whatever may happen next for the US or global economy. He explained recently, as noted in TIME.com, what Georgists have been saying about Neo-Classical economists for 100 years: "'Things are happening which we call technical factors, which is another way of saying we don't have a clue, and they could just as readily go in the other direction,' the chairman said."
But reading that isn't appealing after how the article begins:
"If You Want to Predict the Tax Cut, Look to Alan Rather Than Bill The GOP has picked a fight with President Clinton over revenue reductions. But they should know that Fed chairman Alan Greenspan has always called the shots..."
Economic news, with its dismal mysterious shroud of hyper-newspeak, is, in the US, used as a means of frightening the public as with details of a horrible car crash.
There is presently a growing fear in the US and other parts of the world, that the American economy, and some degree of the current 'Pax' Americana along with it, could be approaching a downward trend or, at least, the dreaded 'major correction' vaguely predicted for the stock market by many soldiers in the financial advice army.
http://www.businessweek.com/BusinessWeek/ (7/26/99) said low unemployment, a steadily growing economy and stock market profits have not dampened the amount of debt people are carrying in the US. "The sum of installment debt, home equity loans, and auto leasing now equals more than 24% of aftertax income," reports BW, "implying that households today are more highly leveraged than at any time in the postwar period."
PRESS-WATCH: Watch It Pull a Rabbit Out of the Hat UK (Sun 1 Aug 1999) - http://www.the-times.co.uk - The Times of London today published extracts from "The National Wealth," by Dominic Hobson, available September 6 from HarperCollins. Many Georgists would appreciate various sentiment expressed there, but Hobson seems to be demonizing the country's "showpiece" aristocrats for what, today, banks are doing. He complains more about the behaviour of young aristocrats in public than he refers to the unfair advantages accruing to the monopolizers of land.
Even so, text such as the following, in the mainstream, press may indicate a a growing public recognition of the real science of economics is forcing "newspeakers" to back-peddle on the land question.
"All over the country, aristocrats have benefited not only from rising land prices, and the flood of tax exemptions and subsidies given to farmers, but from lower rates of taxation on incomes and investments ... Lower taxes, rising incomes and higher share prices have pushed up rents and the value of shooting and fishing rights.
"Perhaps 1,600 great estates survive in England, 500 in Scotland and another 150 in Wales. Between them, the 95 richest landowners in The Sunday Times Rich List own 2.3m acres, or 3.85% of Britain. Of this, the 10 largest aristocratic landowners possess nearly 1.5m acres, according to a 1994 estimate. A recent study showed that titled landowners own more than 2.5m acres, or 13.4%, of Scotland.
"There is no sterner test of the aristocratic instinct for survival than the willingness to sell land. For a territorial aristocrat, it is the most precious of assets, the source not only of wealth but of power and status."
It seems Hobson means to brown-nose his 'subject,' but, out of context, the following reads as, perhaps, the script of a derisive but insightful comic.
"The modern, business-minded duke or earl is not an aberration, but an authentic representative of the aristocratic tradition. Like everybody else with energy or verve, he simply came out of the closet in the 1980s."
Below, Hobson (surely he's joking?) suggests the reader admire the vigor with which the monarchy has, effectively, restarted their old feudal meat-grinder to the roaring cheers of their adoring serfs.
"In the face of this seemingly unstoppable assault, the aristocracy displayed the subtlety of their instinct for survival by transforming themselves from the overbearing elite of the past into the custodians of a shared national heritage.
"They set up the cunningly named Historic Houses Association, which joined forces with the Country Landowners Association to lobby for more sympathetic treatment by the tax system. They linked the fate of the great country houses with the destruction of the natural environment and succeeded in collecting more than 1m signatures to a petition to parliament."
A few weeks ago, The Times carried a letter to the editors from
henrygeorge@charity.vfree.com Tony Vickers, head of
http://www.henrygeorgeuk.cjb.net/ HGF-GB, on land value taxation.
Congratulations, Mr. Vickers!
- - - - - - - - - -
To be fair after complaining about police regarding racial profiling, I'm
compelled to mention that police officers are, too, are unfairly maligned.
The willingness of authorities to sacrifice public protection and civic
harmony in order to pay police poorly is surely not the choice police
officers would make.
According to the http://www.naacp.org/NAACP, none of the major American television networks has any blacks as main characters in almost any prime-time broadcasts this year. The networks plead "economics." Everything has to be completely risk-free to make a decent profit. [What a luxury that must be! - AJM]
Local news stations, especially, perpetuate the idea that blacks are more likely to be criminals than are whites. An example: despite the fact that crime statistics are down rather evenly in all US cities, local news broadcasts forward, to the public, claims by local police authorities that their 'techniques' deserve the credit. The Shot: While crime statistics are quoted, police cars are seen driving slowly down the street past small groups of black people sitting on their porches and standing on a corner. And the example I describe above, I actually saw on TV just the other night.
WATCH-WATCH: Progress and Poverty Among Media Critics
How Un-Investigative Can Investigative Journalism Be?
As if the idea of reducing, instead of increasing the profitability of land
speculation had never, in the entire course of human history, been
considered, and especially not in connection with reducing unnecessary urban
sprawl, http://www.sprawlwatch.org/newsletter.html
The Sprawl Watch Newsletter reports:
On 6/29, Rep. Canady (R-FL) introduced a bill (H.R.2372) to create new opportunities to bring "takings" claims, wherein developers and other private landowners seek compensation for not polluting or not building on protected land. The bill is virtually identical to legislation (H.R. 1534) passed by the House in 1997. It would allow developers to circumvent local zoning procedures to sue towns, cities, and counties for alleged takings directly in federal court. Sen. Hatch (R-UT) has introduced a similar bill (S. 1028). Click on Legislative Watch at Natural Resources Defense Council's website http://www.nrdc.org
and
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said Wednesday that federal spending restrictions would make it difficult to renew a three-year-old farm preservation program that helps state and local governments buy easements, or development rights, from farmers. But he plans to press on with his bill to authorize $50 million a year for easements, under which farmers would continue to own land but would be barred from nonfarm activities. A bill by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., would offer $55 million. "The Farmland Preservation Program enables producers facing economic uncertainty to keep their valuable land in production while keeping development pressures at bay,'' Santorum said. President Clinton requested $77.5 million for farm preservation in his fiscal 2000 budget. (7/22/99, AP, Anick Jesdanun) http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpwh14.htm
"Sprawl watch," indeed.
- - - - - - - - - -
Yet, Sometimes, Scratching the Surface
Not everything Larry Elder has to say in his 26 June piece,
http://www.frontpagemag.com/elder/le06-25-99.htm
Maybe the Government's To Blame . . .," will find agreement among Georgists,
but his perspective is more clear than many an anti-establishment article.
His piece begins, comparing Left and Right-Wing proposals in the wake of the
student massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Then, he
writes:
Neither Republicans nor Democrats seem willing even to consider a third culprit—government. Americans must work longer than ever to pay state, local, and federal taxes, as well as indirect taxes like mandates. This means that many Americans spend less time with their families simply to satisfy the government's appetite. Polls show that most Americans still believe in a stay-at-home mom, if possible. But, to pay taxes, and to live in a safe area with decent schools, both spouses must often work outside the home. Had the tax rate remained at the 1950 level, the average American family would have hundreds of thousands of dollars more in net worth.
Elder writes for an interesting publication called FrontPage Magazine -
http://www.frontpagemag.com
- - - - - - - - - -
In case you still think falsification of the history of Earth Day is innocent
or innocuous, take a look at Brain Tokar's critique, in Zmag, of Earth Day
organizers and institutions, Questioning Official Environmentalism -
http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/apr97tokar.html
And, he doesn't even seem to know about the Orwellian falsification of the
history of Earth Day. Or, it's possible he has not yet made the connections
revealed in http://www.progress.org/archive/adam05.htm last year's "Fake
Earth Day" article at The Progress Report, between fake environmentalism and
the world's feudal finance system.
GEO-WATCH: Update on Georgist Media Activity
http://www.progress.org/banneker/index.shtml The Banneker Center
for Economic Justice is keeping up its geo-media leadership with a very
serious "Georgist Brochure Contest."
In the Fall of 1997, http://www.progress.org/cgoThe Council of Georgist Organizations passed this motion: "that the CGO offer matching funds up to a maximum of $2,500, as prize money for a contest for a brochure that elicits a request by a person for more information from a Georgist organization. "Brochure entries must be compatible with printing on recycled and/or hemp-based paper, and will be evaluated through market testing."
The coordinators of the contest are Alan Ridley, Ernie Kahn, David Giesen,
Drew Harris and Hanno Beck. The prize fund is already at $1,600! There's no
entry fee and you're encouraged to prepare as many as you like. Send entries
to:
Banneker Center for Economic Justice
5465 High Tide Court, Columbia, MD 21044
- - - - - - - - - -
Senior Editor of - http://www.progress.org/ - The Progress Report
and global economy professor Fred Foldvary's paper -
http://www.geocities.com/toto?s=76000014 - "Ground Rent Seeking in US
Economic History" is now online. Foldvary proves economics is anything
but dismal, and history, anything but boring, as long as faithfully recorded.
USA (Thu 29 Jul 1999) - Congratulations are due to The Heartland Institute - http://www.heartland.org/ - and Jeff Smith on his appointment to their "Where We Live" panel on sprawl. According to the July '99 issue of "The Heartlander," Smith joins "Takings" author, Richard Epstein and John Charles, a speaker at the1998 Portland Conference of the CGO (Council of Georgist Organizations).
Mr. Smith is a well-known Georgist who seems to routinely manage such impressive feats of activism. Two of the hottest geo-media actions this year are from Jeff, the - http://www.progress.org/geonom49.htm - Spring '99 Geonomist and a piece in the latest edition of - http://www.terrain.org/ - Terrain, A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments, picked for their issue theme, "The Suburban Frontier." What's the next? http://www.terrain.org/Issue_4/About_Terrain/Themes/themes.html
Jeffery J. Smith - President, Geonomy Society - geonomist@juno.com
- - - - - - - - - -
USA (Wed 28 Jul 1999) - According to Georgist insider Ed dodson, -
http://www.fanniemae.com/ - Fannie Mae will sponsor a faith-based housing
conference in September among local churches in Detroit, Michigan. They
intend to discuss affordable housing and community development. Those who'd
like to attend should contact the Detroit office.
Fannie Mae was created by Congress in 1938 to assist home ownership after the Great Depression. In the late 1960s, it was privatized. It is now the US' largest holder of mortgages (about 12 million), our third largest corporation and one of the largest financial services corporations in the world.
USA (Mon 19 Jul 1999) - Georgist Philatelic aficionado -
http://geo.to/foldvary - Fred Foldvary reports:
On July 17, the US Postal Service issued a 55 cent stamp picturing Justin S.
Morrill and inscribed "LAND GRANT COLLEGES." The first-date of issue is in
Morrill's hometown, Strafford, Vermont.
Morrill represented Vermont in the House and Senate until his death in 1898. The Georgist connection is his sponsorship of the - http://www.uky.edu/CampusGuide/land-grant.html - Morrill Acts, also known as the Land-Grant Acts, starting in 1862. These established the land-grant colleges. Each state was granted some federal land, the rent of which was to support the colleges. One of these land-grant colleges is Virginia Tech at Blacksburg.
Some states obtained lands in other states, and the colleges became landlords and speculators. For example, Californians ended up renting land granted to other states. Henry George discussed this in his 1871 book "Our Land and Land Policy."
You can get a collectible souvenir of the stamp with the "first day" postmark
until August 16. Just buy the stamp, stick it on an addressed envelope, and
send it (inside another envelope) to:
Justin Morrill Definitive Stamp
Postmaster, Box 9998
Strafford VT 05072-9991
- - - - - - - - - -
"Enjoyed your newsletter and the stuff on Woodstock, Mumia and the Gergen
article. But I thought the term heavy metal came from Steppenwolf's 1968
song _Born to be Wild_: "I like smoking lightning, heavy metal thunder...."
I got the date from - http://www.oldiesmusic.com/open.htm - Oldies
Music - history, trivia and charts of... Another Boomer nostalgia site
is: http://www.zipcon.net/~highroad/folkscare.htmlThe Great Folk
Scare & the Folkniks. It led me to a Phil Ochs lyric I'd like to pass
along: Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends -
www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/small-circle-of-friends.html
Keep up the good work, ..."
- Denis Coughlin
- - - - - - - - - -
Steppenwolf! Denis, you're right! Thanks for the correction (and the groovy
links)!
Sincerely George,
Adam Jon Monroe, Jr.
Editor, The Georgist News - georgist@aol.com