IN3DNews

Please visit IN3D News from this time forward. I will be focusing more attention is Indiana's 3rd Congressional District.

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Souder Q & A with Journal Gazette

Representative Mark Souder's question and answer session with the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

[...]

Journal Gazette: I always start out asking what you consider your two or three top achievements of the past year. Tell me about 2008.

Souder: The No. 1 accomplishment was not having in-patient care closed (at the Veterans Hospital on Lake Avenue). Now we’re just going to argue how it’s going to be done. We’ve won the VA hospital debate, particularly with the new Veterans Administration coming in. They aren’t going to close it.

Is it tough to chalk up victories when you’re a Republican in a Democratically controlled House?

In the minority, your ability to do legislative achievements that are dramatic are less than when you’re in the majority. Much of what you do is you fight for your principles and nuances inside bills.

There aren’t big, huge “oh, wow!” victories. My process has been to work more on amendments in major legislation and to work the bureaucracy, because the bureaucracy is where most decisions are made.

How did that play out in your committees? The Education Committee, for instance, wrote a bill dealing with the laws and policies affecting colleges and universities.

One of my amendments was the cohort issue – basically, what percentage of students fall behind in a loan in a given year. We got it moved to a three-year average. (Otherwise) it penalizes schools, bluntly said, that had a higher percent of low-income minority students, because a higher percent of them fall behind in their loans.

A lot of those kind of professional and trade schools, many of them would have lost the student loan ability or had to reduce the number of minority students.

Also, for all the talk that they were going to repeal the Souder provision, the lose-your-loan-for-one-year is in the higher ed act. (Souder was the author of legislation that limits or bans college students from education loans if they are convicted of drug offenses. There have been repeated attempts to repeal it, including this year.)

We have a clear warning to students that, don’t get convicted of drugs, or your loans are in danger. It proves you can get things through even with Democrat majority when you’re not under the hot lights.

I worked on an obscure provision that deals with parks, to try to get them integrated in the schools system. “No Child Left Inside” was more exercise and how to utilize our federal, state and local parks as part of that. I worked with (several Democrats) to get that amendment through. It’s the first time in legislation that we had the national parks and the Education Department have to work together.

[...]

In the past two years – the duration of the last Congress – you introduced nine bills. One of them – naming a post office – became law. Some people might think that’s a paltry list of accomplishments. How should members of Congress be evaluated?

Any process has to count amendments rather than full bills. You make a decision: Am I going to pick three things at the beginning of this two-year cycle so I can have three things to put in (campaign) commercials? I choose not to go that route. I believe you need to be opportunistic, work your committees.

Being an effective member of Congress depends on what relationship you build, your credibility for knowing your stuff, what kind of questions you ask, how you treat people in public and private. Bills are one sign of effectiveness. Amendments are another sign. Whether you make a key point to one of your leaders or a leader on the other side.

Unfortunately, many of the things that make an effective member of Congress are done in private and therefore very difficult for the public to evaluate. But, ultimately, it’s a legislative business. If you’re not directly writing a bill, inputting into a bill or doing amendments, you shouldn’t be a legislator. You should be a commentator.

[...]

Your opponent and the Democratic Party spent $1.5 million to try to unseat you last month, and you ended up spending more time raising money than you like to. Did the experience dull your interest in running again in 2010?

This one was especially hard. It’s one thing when you’re running against Tom Hayhurst or Paul Helmke or Jill Long, for that matter, who I believe were qualified for the job. It’s another thing when you realize you’re potentially in a fight against somebody who’s not even qualified, who people don’t know, who’s come into the district from outside, who has little experience, who’s being funded and controlled by Washington parties who didn’t even know my name is Mark, not Mike.

(When constituents support someone like that), you realize it isn’t that they think the other person’s better than you. They don’t want you.

The danger is you can overpersonalize it. Maybe it’s the tide or it’s a Democratic year. But it’s hard when your name’s up there, particularly if you value your reputation. Quite frankly, you shouldn’t get into politics if you value your reputation because the second they know you value your reputation, someone will try to wreck it.

On the other hand, if you personalize it too much, you go too far the other direction: I won, therefore everyone thinks I’m great. That’s not true, either.

The counterbalance to feeling like I was socked in the gut was that winning by 15 (percentage points) was a lot different than if it had been two. It meant that what we had done mattered. That even in a strong Democratic year, there were people who were frustrated, but they had some recognition that they wanted to continue the approach I had been doing. They may not agree with it totally, but the general approach.

This is what’s really sobering: I had more people give me money this time, more people go door to door, because they realized I was in trouble. Now that they have invested in you, spent time trying to help you, you have an obligation to try to continue what you were doing.

The very thing that says I should just quit also propels you along. Those people wouldn’t have given you all that help if they thought you’d just turn around and quit.

[....]

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GM in Fort Wayne

The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel is reporting that GM will idle the Fort Wayne GM Truck Assembly Plant in January. This announcement comes a day after the U.S. Senate failed to pass a rescue package for the U.S. based auto makers.

A two-week shutdown in March at General Motors’ Fort Wayne assembly plant is part of a massive cutback in production the company plans in the first three months of next year. The automaker plans to build 250,000 fewer vehicles in the first quarter of 2009.

The Fort Wayne plant will be shut down the weeks of March 2 and 9, said plant spokeswoman Alicia Kocher. Some other manufacturing facilities will be closed for as long as a month, Kocher said.

United Auto Workers Local 2209 Shop Chairman Mark Orr said workers were told late Friday morning that they would be scheduled for straight eight-hour days in January and February. After the break, they would return to work in the second half of March.

[....]


Other reports:
Fort Wayne among plants GM is temporarily closing (Star)
GM to temporarily idle Fort Wayne plant (IInB)

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Gas Down

The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette today reported gas prices have come down substantially even to the lowest price in five years.

Low gas prices usually prompt consumers to spend more, but economists say the recession might mean Americans will hang on to any dollars they save at the pump.

On Tuesday, regular unleaded gasoline was selling for $1.33 a gallon at Murphy USA at Lima and Dupont roads during the day, and by 8 p.m. the price was down to $1.27. The Marathon station at the intersection advertised gas at $1.35 a gallon during the day, and by 8 p.m. the price was down to $1.28.

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The last time the average price of regular gasoline fell to less than $1.40 in the Midwest was May 2003, according to the U.S. Energy Information Service.

[...]

Less than three months ago, gas sold at most Fort Wayne stations for $4.15 a gallon after Hurricane Ike tore through the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting some production.

[...]

The federal government expects fuel costs to creep into the $2-a-gallon range again next year, according to the Energy Information Service.

But there might be more short-term relief in store before the prices bounce up again.

“This may not be the bottom,” Hicks said.

As a consumer and a driver in Fort Wayne I am defenetly glad for the relief from the high fuel costs. But I do have a major concern for the sudden drop in gas prices. Will people go back to driving huge gas-guzzling SUVs and will the auto industry again kill the electric car?

CNN reported that while gas prices have gone down across the country demand has started to rise.

According to a report on gasoline demand from MasterCard on Tuesday, which tracks retail gas sales, demand for fuel inched up 0.3% last week compared to a year ago. The demand uptick was small, but it was the first time demand has risen on a year-over-year basis in eight months.

"I think this is it," van der Valksaid. "[Gas prices are] stabilizing as we speak."

My worst fears might be coming true though but not the way I expected. I expected that many electric car builders would still produce their cars, but that might not happen. I thought the consumer would just buy the SUVs and the electric car would die as a result. It seems GM syndrome might become an epidemic again, as illustrated by another CNN article.

The Wrightspeed X1, a sports car whose three-second acceleration from 0 to 60 makes it one of the fastest autos in the world, is also super clean: It's powered by an electric motor and gets about 170 mpg. Ian Wright, the Burlingame, Calif., entrepreneur who created the X1 several years ago, had planned on ramping up production on a line of similar electric cars in 2009. But over the summer, he changed his mind.

[...]

In a 180-degree turn from where his company, Wrightspeed, was a year ago, Wright has completely abandoned the concept of bringing an electric car to market. Instead, while he waits for the electric vehicle market to mature, Wright is focusing on a more lucrative venture: Wrightspeed will make and sell electric powertrains - the battery pack, software, and other components that generate power to a vehicle - to existing car and truck manufacturers, targeting the sports car market, the military, and fleet operators, whose vehicles need lots of short-burst power but travel relatively short distances.

[...]

As a result, Wrightspeed isn't the only electric car upstart shifting gears; many of the dozen or so Silicon Valley companies that were trumpeting their roll-outs late last year have delayed production, been taken over by investors or big-industry veterans, or have gone out of business.

[....]

I hope this past summer was a wake up call to Americans, but past history does not give me much confidence. GM killed the EV1 because of how cheap gas became. Gas sky rocketed and GM is now developing the Volt (cool EV1). Many car companies have also started to produce electric cars but if americans go back to buying a more profitable SUV or truck will GM Syndrome strick again and kill EV1.1?

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Local 2010 Elections - Already!?

Today's Journal-Gazette published an article about the Allen County 2010 election. Mostly focusing on the races for county commissioner, the article also discussed how Democrats still lack satisfactory candidates for any of the positions available.

With two county commissioner seats on the ballot and two incumbent
officeholders ineligible to seek re-election because of term limits, the
Republican primary will likely hold much interest. Democrats, of course, have
difficulties running even credible races for countywide office.

[...]

Both first-term incumbent Bill Brown and four-term veteran Linda Bloom are
up for re-election. The big question is whether Bloom, 67, will seek another
term after saying in 2006 that year would be her final campaign. Both are
vulnerable because the commissioners have been dysfunctional in a number of
areas: inability to merge 911 emergency dispatch with the city, inability to get
a new sheriff’s office ready, punting responsibility for bridges, allowing their
Human Resources director to propose outlandish raises for them and a long delay
on the Maplecrest Road project.

[...]

Look for Prosecutor Karen Richards, County Assessor Stacey O’Day and
Sheriff Ken Fries to seek re-election. If Democrats focus on finding a
competitive candidate for any county office, it will be for sheriff.

As discussed in the article local democrats only seem to be able to find good candidates for sheriff, though the race is usually not close. What is more amazing is that even though the republicans have at times been inept at governing, democrats cannot capitalize on those short commings to get even on non-republican as a commissioner.


In other news:

Alcoa lays off 30 in Auburn (JG)
FWCS opts for lower pay tier (JG)
FWCS picks nonunion wage (NS)
Commissioners consider funding for 911 upgrade (NS)

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Souder and Auto Bailout

Souder Fears Local Fallout if GM Withers (JG)

Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd, is “looking for a reason” to support the $34 billion lifeline the U.S. automakers have asked the taxpayers to throw them.

He said he fears what would happen to the regional economy if the Allen County GM truck plant closed, throwing its 2,700 workers and 10,000 employees at parts suppliers out of business.

[...]

“I represent a GM district. I represent a GM city, and I am looking for a reason to vote ‘yes’ if there is a reasonable plan,” he said in an interview after the meeting with about 30 representatives of the auto and related industries.

Souder said he went into the meeting convinced that the Allen County truck plant would survive even if GM went into bankruptcy because it is so efficient, is close to rail and truck transportation and has many parts suppliers nearby.

But he said he learned that other plants are equally competitive in those areas, meaning the Allen County plant is not immune to closure.

[...]

The United Auto Workers actively campaigned for Souder’s defeat last month – the union gave Democrat Michael Montagano $10,000, the maximum contribution – but Souder said that hasn’t dramatically colored his view of the situation.

“It didn’t endear me to them,” he said, “but you can’t live in our area without friends, relatives and ties in the auto business.”

I would think the need for jobs in this economy would be reason enough. Rep. Souder has already shown a willingness to vote for a bailout of Wall Street, which has a lesser job impact on his district. But here is a large employer in the area that he isn't keen on helping. Many people remember what happened to this area when Harvester pulled out which could have enough historical significance to inform Souder's decision.

Souder's support for the Wall Street bailout and the betrail of conservative princples was not a significant problem for him in his reelection bid. However, a loss of a GM plant and his lack of support for an auto industry bailout could be a larger election issue in two years.

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ISTEP Scores Revealed

Score Drop Across State (JG)

In Fort Wayne Community Schools, passing rates in most grades in both language arts and math went down from last year, with scores remaining stagnant in fifth-grade language arts and seventh-grade math. The passing rate went up in sixth- and 10th-grade language arts.

"It does bother us if the scores don't go up, because that's the only public measure people see," Fort Wayne Community Schools Superintendent Wendy Robinson said.

[...]

Robinson also questioned Thursday whether the scores for the state and FWCS went down because of an increase in low-income students. The percentage of the district's students receiving a free or reduced-price lunch increased from 60 percent in 2007-08 to more than 63 percent this year.

The free or reduced-price lunch population at South Side Elementary School in Kendallville jumped from 59 percent last year to 69 percent this year, Principal Jim Nixon said.

"Poverty is not a determining factor, but it is an influential factor in student achievement," Nixon said.

[...]

Armed with the fall test results, educators say they will continue to target individual student weaknesses and work to get students ready to take the ISTEP+ again this spring.

The fall test, which measures what students learned in the previous school year, was eliminated by the Indiana State Board of Education in favor of testing students in the spring based on what they learned in the current school year.

[....]

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FWCS Meetings

Fort Wayne Community Schools will be discussing the up coming changes to the high schools this week. These are the changes FWCS proposed earlier in the year to create New Tech specialized programs in each high school.

Meeting times and places:
Today - Northside High School - 6 pm
Tuesday - Elmhurst High School - 6 pm
Wednesday - Grand Wayne Center - Jefferson - 8:30 am
Thursday - Wayne High School - 6 pm

FWCS page on the New Tech Program
Earlier post on New Tech

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Shopping Run Amok

Capitalists love today; the annual Black Friday. But as usual we see consumerism go haywire and people go crazy. Take for instance that today people died or where shot while shopping, according to CNN. These Black Friday shoppers care for nothing else but how cheap they can get some item.

Video showed as many as a dozen people knocked to the floor in the stampede of people trying to get into the Wal-Mart store, Fleming said.

The employee was "stepped on by hundreds of people" as other workers attempted to fight their way through the crowd, Fleming said.

"Several minutes" passed before others were able to clear space around the man and attempt to render aid. Police arrived, and "as they were giving first aid, those police officers were also jostled and pushed," he said.

I understand that this happens every year. Some poor soul always dies because of the madness a good deal creates. But does a man really have to die for a tv or some other toy? Is it really worth it? Are people really that "desperate" to get some item that they will literally run into a store and trample a person?

What sickens me more is people not letting employees through to the wounded person to either provide first aid or pull the person to safety. So much for the spirit of charity during the holiday season. Instead it gives way to ruthless bickering, selfishness and killing. It is mind numbingly stupid that people need to get these deals so bad that they will abandon their humanity and submit to a more barbaric nature.

Maybe this is the way capitalism is supposed to work though. The people that get ahead are those who will do whatever it takes to get the best bang for their buck. The notion of getting ahead is usually build on the backs of others, and it this case literally. However, this is not capitalism; but consumerism.

These people are not trying to lift themselves up nor get ahead in society. Rather they are doing these deeds for the sole purpose of buying something. While the need or want to buy an item in itself is not problematic, except when taken to the extremes of Black Friday. The problem is these excesses are not all uncommon in the U.S. I remember people lining up to see a movie days in advance or waiting outside for hours for a new video game or other electronic device. The desires are the same though; a good deal on temporary pleasure which will be replaced next year.

The desire to get these deals is not a problem, but should people lose their humanity for them? Should people lose their lives for them? If these deals are leading people to the destruction of their humanity or someone else then I think not.

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IN 3D News

This blog will be moving to IN3Dnews.blogspot.com effective January 1, 2009. The new blog will mainly focus on Indiana's Third Congressional District.

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