May 28, 2010… It’s Friday and time to get some things “off my chest.” I have three items that I need to yell about. So here goes:

REP. FUDGE – YOU MADE THE WRONG DECISION

I guess my Congresswoman – Rep. Marcia Fudge – believes nothing she does will ever put any stress on her holding the 11th District job.

Maybe she thinks no one will notice that she sided with the big telecommunication companies and against her constituents. The big communications companies would like to control the internet and how much it costs to access it.

Fudge, along with 74 other Democratic Congress members, allied themselves with AT&T, Verizon ad Comcast by signing a letter that will undercut the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) “ability to make a fast, affordable and open internet available to everyone in America,” as a watchdog labels of the letter.

Fudge – who represents a district with many low income people – took the side that will deprive rural and low income communities from adequate internet access.

Shame on the Congresswoman.

Tell her she’s on the wrong side: 216-522-4900.

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CHINA ON MY MIND

Clevelanders and Ohioans should be angry about labor practices that discriminate against workers. Let’s start with China since we have a mayor that wants to marry Cleveland to a Chinese manufacturer.

I don’t know about you but I’ve been opposed to slavery for a long time.

Apparently, the Chinese government isn’t.

The New York Times had several articles that point to how the government there tramples all over its citizens. And that includes its state companies.

I guess developers here would like to have the same privileges the government has in China to spur development. People in the way? Just push them away.

They say new rules are being set to correct these problems. But before they take effect the Times reports the inhumane process. Some people are pressing back but not quickly enough:

“Today in Laogucheng, a dingy warren of apartments and shops slated for redevelopment on Beijing’s far west side, the fruits of that effort are on vivid display: a powerful developer is racing to demolish the neighborhood before the rules are passed, says the Times. What’s occurring around the country, says one holdout to the demolition, are “sudden and violent demolitions.”

Read the entire front page story from Thursday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/world/asia/27china.html?th&emc=th

POOR WORK CONDITIONS PROMPT SUICIDES

The Times on its business page Thursday has a startling article about a firm, which supplies a number of American companies (Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard). It has such harsh work standards that a number of young workers have committed suicide. The company is Foxconn.

“There were bows and an apology from Terry Gou, one of the richest men in Asia and chairman of Foxconn Technology, reports the Times. The company employs some 400,000 people. Workers get some $32 for 40 hours work, the article says. Workers are housed 10 to a room.

Apologies are totally inadequate.

“Foxconn’s production line system is designed so well that no worker will rest even for one second during work; they make sure you’re always busy for every section,” says a spokesperson for China Labor Watch.

That’s great. Who needs a one second break?

Just what we need in Cleveland, right? I guess there are a few more questions Council can ask the Jackson administration about its no-bid deal to bring a Chinese LEDs company’s U. S. headquarters here.

No thanks.

The full Times piece on the China suicide company can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/technology/27suicide.html?th&emc=th

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PD NEEDS MORE PROOF THAN A TELEPHONE CALL

The Plain Dealer led the newspaper today (Friday) with a front-page headlines advertising a sparkling new Casino in downtown Cleveland. I know the PD wants to push positive stuff for the city. But it can’t be created by articles in the paper.

Shockingly, the basis of the article comes from a telephone call. That’s putting a lot of trust in talking to someone you can’t even see.

We’re not even shown the typically phony sketches for the advertised “sleek, contemporary building with large areas of glass at two main entrances along Huron Road and a row of restaurants and shops between them, facing the street and sidewalk.”

We’re to expected believe the developers. No thanks. The story is by Steve Litt, the Plain Dealer’s architect critic. Steve, you can do better than this.

We are given a lot of promises, including “the majority of the infrastructure will be borne by us,” meaning Dan Gilbert, who won the rights to build a Cleveland casino. I hope Steve saves that quote when the time comes for these “entrepreneurs” to do private enterprise. Without public money, that is. Laughable.

There’s a whole lot of flackery being peddled here.