n1303k

thanks for the great tribute to a great co-op, Don...

2011-01-06T19:31:57.557-05:00

thanks for the great tribute to a great co-op, Don. -- from another "born again" cooperator (KZ)

"Nicolai Ouroussoff is no Ada Louise Huxtable...

2010-11-06T11:58:40.938-04:00

"Nicolai Ouroussoff is no Ada Louise Huxtable" -- ain't it the truth. He doesn't give a damn about fine proportions, form follows function, or that characteristic of all mature architectural masters: profound simplicity. No, it's all flash and trash, with novelty the measure of genius. I read his articles and wonder why Times editors can't see what a johnny one-note he is. Huxtable never talked down to her readers, and wrote of architecture as an art, when it was indeed an art, and not as passing whims of the consumer society.

n1303k@gmail.com reaches the author of this blog, ...

2010-07-18T10:16:30.889-04:00

n1303k@gmail.com reaches the author of this blog, in case of any follow-up comments. I keep my name off this blog because I would like to avoid people reaching the blog by inputting my name into a search engine. But my neighbors in Norwich know this is my blog and I will indentify myself without hesitation to anyone else who asks.

It is quite a situation we have unfolding in Eugen...

2010-03-25T18:51:55.588-04:00

It is quite a situation we have unfolding in Eugene. You can find out more about it at my Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/luddite333

Here's the reply I posted to Michael J.'s ...

2010-03-17T13:54:25.693-04:00

Here's the reply I posted to Michael J.'s comments on his Notio blog. They're best read there, but I am posting them here because, perhaps, they have some stand-alone value:

This is really thoughtful, perceptive analysis. In the end, I have no principled basis for opposing the creation of either L3Cs or LCAs (limited cooperative associations) -- as you suggest, innovation is a good thing when it comes to entity formation. I worry about allowing LCAs to call themselves co-ops not because they are bad but because their form of organization is so untethered from key cooperative principles. In a sense, I think they pose a risk that the cooperative "brand" will become too diluted.

Apart from that, here are the two things that are really bothering me about all of this.

First, I deem it unconscionable that virtue-capitalists are out there drafting legislation and promoting their ideas without so much as acknowledging a whole sector of the economy -- co-ops -- that embody much of what they espouse and which currently serve 130 million Americans, more than the number of folks who directly or indirectly own shares of publicly traded corporations. If co-ops and their exponents were part of the conversation, then the kinds of insights you have provided would be at or near the center rather than, at best, on the periphery.

Second, I believe that these discussions, whether focused on LC3s, LCAs, so-called constituency statutes (designed to let corporate boards take other constituencies than shareholders into account) or other such initiatives, are too likely grounded in a form of self-delusion. In my view, if we want to put our wealth and our ingenuity to work for the greater good, we are going to have to live with less individual enrichment. Lots of people proclaim themselves socially responsible investors, but most if not all are still pursuing maximum return on investment. We need to look each other in the eye and ask if we're willing to change that, instead of creating new entities that allow us to pretend we really can do as well as we'd like by doing good.

I wrote a comment, but it was too long for Blogger...

2010-03-17T13:24:07.212-04:00

I wrote a comment, but it was too long for Blogger to accept, so I posted it here.

Dear Anonymous: I like the publicity just fine, t...

2010-03-12T17:49:17.880-05:00

Dear Anonymous:

I like the publicity just fine, thank you. And I don't mind anonymous criticism, though I do find myself wondering what purpose is served by anonymous criticism of an ad hominem nature, verily littered with the slain corpses of straw people.

"Money always corrups<' the sentiment anonymous attributes to "liberal kooks," is precisely the opposite of what the liberal kook who blogs here happens to think. I buy Milton Friedman's observation that businesses should make money, period. Folks who want to be entrepreneurial, to some other end than profit, should form cooperatives. That's the point I was making.

I regret that Todd Johnson's friends seem to be so thin-skinned on his behalf. My point about him was not that he is lacking in virtue -- I don't know about that, one way or another -- but, rather, that for a self-proclaimed expert on virtuous uses of capital he is curiously to make a key statement to NPR that is flat out wrong. I admit that I drew the inference that someone who works for a global law firm, representing clients that operate on a similar scale, might by virtue of that focus be oblivious to the cooperative sector of the global economy.

As for complaints about my lack of expertise, and about how once sentence mentioning Revlon duties failed to convey the breadth of this aspect of corporate law: All I can say is that I haven't claimed here to be an expert about anything. I'm just a habitual NPR listener complaining about a story that was wrong.

For my part I can only agree with the observations...

2010-03-12T08:51:09.381-05:00

For my part I can only agree with the observations on Todd Johnson made by Anonymous. To my mind he is one of the thought leaders in this field whose work is to be highly commended and supported

Let me see if I can get this right, Don. You are ...

2010-03-11T19:56:09.616-05:00

Let me see if I can get this right, Don. You are a jounalist, turned lawyer, turned architectual critic, who now claims to be an expert on corporate governance. Hmmm . . . ?

First, your explanation of what happened in the Ben & Jerry's situation and how Revlon duties did or did not apply is simplistic and naive. Second, your commentary on the NPR piece, while appropriate in certain respects (yes, it is a simplistic soundbite piece that attempted to cover a far too complex issue in less than two minutes), by leaning on co-ops as if they were a solution that was missed, shows a thorough lack of understanding of what the piece used as the center of its report -- the legislative efforts underway to address signfiicant corporate governance friction points for those attempting to raise traditional capital to accomplish strong social good through a for-profit model. (And by the way, the piece was NOT about L3C's. Take another listen.)

Frankly, Don, you distingush yourself as exactly the type of kook who has kept the fiction of an either/or economy alive within the liberal progressive world. Somehow, the liberal idea that money always corrupts, must be overcome. Greed corrupts, but not all for-profit efforts beget greed. Just take a look at your own example of a co-op.

True liberals are embracing a much more holistic approach that would seek integrated (a whole or complete) organizations. I agree this cannot be done with the traditional for-profit corporate model. I am also not a fan of L3C's. But the idea that the answer rests in using a co-op and elevating one type of stakeholder (a customer or a producer) over every other (e.g., investor, vendor, creditor) is absurd, unless the level of impact sought is small. When you talk about "impact" on 43% of the population, you misleadingly talk of numbers, without addressing the actual contact or impact. (If I buy a piece of fruit grown by a co-op, your definition would include me in the impacted group. That type of consumption is hardly an impact, when it comes to the would of create postive benefits for the world. Some of the large corporations that you use to defame Mr. Johnson by association could accomplish that goal.)

Finally, it is clear you have no idea of what you are speaking when you take pot shots at Todd Johnson. (Heck, you even mis-name him several times.) Do you have any idea who this guy is? You clearly read his bio, right? Then why didn't you note the rest of it for your readers:

<>

Anyone who has spent time earnestly working in this space knows Todd to be one of the "good guys," who has spent thousands of hours helping entrepreneurs build new structures, helping build legislative alternatives (when he co-chaired the committee that brought SB 1463 to the floor in California last month), and working pro bono with a dozens other organizations and entrepreneurs. In fact, you deliberately (and misleadingly) leaving out the part of his bio that explains his work in this area.

Why?

Well, you clearly have an agenda here. How's the publicity feeling, Don?

Go back to criticizing architecture.

Dear Arthur Wood: I would have welcomed the discu...

2010-03-11T16:31:43.488-05:00

Dear Arthur Wood:

I would have welcomed the discussion you reference . . . Though (as you may recall) I asked a question or two that mentioned co-ops, I didn't really attempt to generate a big discussion of my reservations about L3Cs because I feared my Vermont Law School colleagues (including the students who organized the conference) would perceive this as an unhelpful effort to hijack the proceedings, at least in part. (They had not, after all, invited me to speak on behalf of that position, and I am only starting to become publicly associated with it.)

In reality, we are probably not very far apart. As you suggest, I cannot (and therefore do not) object to experimental entities that are designed to attract new capital, especially if it is of the patient variety. My reservations about L3Cs notwithstanding, I don't oppose Vermont's having authorized them, nor do I object to Vermont's aspiration to become the Delaware of L3Cs.

Something vaguely related that I DO find objectionable is a new kind of entity created by the Uniform Limited Cooperative Association Act. Much as L3Cs bridge the gap between LLCs and nonprofits, a Limited Cooperative Association is supposed to serve as a cross between an LLC and a cooperative. There's nothing inherently immortal about it, but the result has lost the essential attributes of a co-op and should therefore not be allowed to use the word.

In any event, thanks for coming to Vermont -- I hope your visit was a rewarding one.

Dear DMK - I recall we were both at the Vemont eve...

2010-03-11T14:09:38.466-05:00

Dear DMK - I recall we were both at the Vemont event where I was a speaker. Firstly no one would deny the importance of the the Co-Op movement. Why cannot we have a number of structures? Surely bringing new capital into the market is good ? You mention that you have reservations (as your students told me) - its a shame we could not have discussed them in a public forum as is a true liberal (in its English untainted) tradtion

Living there, and having had less than pleasant de...

2010-02-01T10:00:12.956-05:00

Living there, and having had less than pleasant dealings with the local select-board, I can definitely attest to the fact that the town has a lot of pretentious phonies with God-complexes here. I'll qualify that by saying that not all of them are this ill-intentioned, some of them are actually nice folks. But like many other towns, we suffer from social cancer & gossipy, blustering affectation in the upper ranks. I wouldn't want to serve in any capacity of oversight in this town. It must be too frustrating to be one of the good ones having to goose-step around the bad ones' egos.

One of the things I like about living in Cornish (...

2010-02-01T06:28:04.073-05:00

One of the things I like about living in Cornish (a mile from the General Store), is that pretty-much everyone is super-friendly, and pretty-much everyone leaves you alone. There are church suppers and whatnot if you want to attend, and zero social pressure to do so, as far as I can tell.

Mike Ackerman is a nice guy - rarely have my occasional media appearances captured the full range of my person. But if you own the local store and tell some random city-mouse on the hunt for a reclusive country-mouse in the woods that you WON'T tell them where he lives, you're going to have someone hassling you and your customers for the next half hour. Giving intrusive strangers incorrect directions is a New England tradition that far pre-dates Salinger and Ackerman.

Thank gopod Cornish doesn't usually get intensive daily news coverage - we might turn into Norwich or something! ;)

I can't really make a legal argument that corp...

2010-02-01T06:06:59.843-05:00

I can't really make a legal argument that corporations aren't really people - despite the obvious differences - but this magical HuffPo piece probably deserves a comment on Co-ops as the solution to the dilemma he poses.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dale-pendell/the-magical-basis-of-corp_b_442514.html

Be sure to read today's NYT op-ed suggesting t...

2010-01-30T14:07:48.770-05:00

Be sure to read today's NYT op-ed suggesting that Salinger's later works are worthy of greater attention.

Regards,
Tom

hi, what most pundits have missed is that those w...

2010-01-30T10:32:33.649-05:00

hi,

what most pundits have missed is that those who worked on the campaign finance reform bill, part of which was overturned, should have known that they had over reached. the result is the leaving of the post watergate reforms in worse shape than when were. did they think that the warren court was still in session?

the same occurred here in vermont with the campaign finance bill being too far reaching and again overturned by the supreme court, leaving the public with a $2,000,000 bill having to pay attorneys for both sides, and no campaign finance bill.

james dwinell
27 pierce lane
649-7057

It is mighty disappointing to find that artists (o...

2010-01-30T06:08:40.811-05:00

It is mighty disappointing to find that artists (or politicians) have less than desirable traits. But if we were to toss out their contributions because of this we might have very little to read and look at. I choose to see it as part of the whole package. That being said- there are some packages that just aren't worth the trouble.

On the other hand, these people have chosen professions that bring fame. Part of the allure of being a writer/artist/politician is wide spread public recognition for what you have done. Beware of what you ask for......

And the best news is this may save the broadcast i...

2010-01-24T18:34:45.896-05:00

And the best news is this may save the broadcast industry! Advertising will increase and prevent what was a seeming end to free over-the-air communications as we know it. Maybe even AM radio will make a come back!
That is the real free speech boost here!

DMK wrote: "Besides, Dartmouth actually succu...

2010-01-21T21:27:45.075-05:00

DMK wrote: "Besides, Dartmouth actually succumbs to a few tropes of its own, like the arcade that connects Baker Library to Silsby Hall,"

I think DMK means Sanborn, not Silsby.

Interesting review of Meacham's book, which I have and have been enjoying. Glad to know there are people who care a lot about our local architecture.

It is often in obituaries or at memorials that we ...

2010-01-11T21:33:07.884-05:00

It is often in obituaries or at memorials that we discover amazing experiences and accomplishments of even those we have counted as friends.

My daughter was diagnosed in a newborn screening, ...

2009-12-07T23:50:29.207-05:00

My daughter was diagnosed in a newborn screening, but our state (CA) didn't do them across the board yet. We got it because the Naval Medical Center in San Diego conducted screenings. We've felt blessed for that. It's been great. I'm glad you guys got your diagnosis when you did. Best wishes!

2009-11-11T13:56:56.466-05:00

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

2009-11-07T02:29:34.029-05:00

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Anonymous is right on. Of course I can't resi...

2009-11-03T14:11:01.211-05:00

Anonymous is right on. Of course I can't resist pointing out that the Norwich Farmers Market rents its site, at a really, really reasonable rate, from the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society. And I believe that most local food producers would tell you that the Co-op, and its support of them, is important to their survival . . . .

You an also purchase ground beef from a number of ...

2009-11-03T14:05:00.169-05:00

You an also purchase ground beef from a number of local farmers at the Norwich Farmer's market.

Then you really know where it came from. Local Cows, Local Farmers, and Local grinding.