IN THE SNOW

We had a big storm yesterday that brought about a foot of snow.  I spent hours yesterday and today shoveling and raking off the roof.  I enjoy being outside, particularly while the storm is still in motion, in the wind and swirling snow. For me it's a mystical experience and takes me back to my young days in blizzards while living in South Dakota. Those were great times for me in so many ways.

The storm ended just in time for the driveway to be plowed and we lit the wood stove in our living room.  Then just after it got dark key folks from our recent BIW corporate subsidy campaign came for a potluck so we could all reconnect.  Our committee became very close during that intense process, each of them a gifted leader, each with great energy and a cooperative spirit.  It was a pure delight to work with them all.  So we kicked the ball around a bit just to see where our collective interests might take us.  Early signs are that cutting corporate welfare at the local/state level and conversion of BIW are on the table. 

This morning I drove to Harpswell, which is one of the five long finger-like islands that jut out into the ocean here along the midcoast. There is a public access TV studio there where the producer of This Issue, Eric Herter, can put our show together.  My guest this morning was Orlando Delogu who is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Maine law school.  Orlando helped us out during the height of the campaign opposing the BIW tax break and spoke before our Bath city council about the unfairness of the unneeded tax subsidy.  He's a very passionate man and I enjoyed watching him in action then as well as having him on the show today.  His bottom line is that big corporations don't need the money, they just take it because they can.  Until the public speaks out loudly Mr. Big will keep taking the fat.

The Lakota people called the white man wasi'chu which in their language means the 'one who steals the fat'.  The story is that the first time the Lakota people ever saw a white man he was sneaking inside their food storage tepee and took the buffalo fat that they saved for the worst of times. 

We've got to deal with the wasichu....they are robbing us blind.