Welcome to the February issue. Happy Chinese New Year! Welcome to new subscribers: Bill Manning. In 1956 at 36, he was studying soil remineralization when he learned about Henry George. For a year in 1950-51, he financed and operated a home for problem boys; in 1952 he had three weeks of total amnesia from the emotional impact of losing those 26 boys back into the hells he had taken them out of. Soon after falling totally under the spell of Henry George -- both his logical mind and his prose that read like poetry -- he learned about Silvio Gesell and his "Natural Economic Order", and then both Fredric Bastiat's 'The Law' and A.J. Nock's 'Our Enemy, the State'. At 85 years old, with a 92-year-old wife who is bed- and wheelchair-bound, he lives in Costa Rica, still trying to figure a way to prove to the world the sense of George, Gesell, Bastiat, Nock, and many others. Have you, dear reader, friends or coworkers who'd also like to subscribe? Read below the stories of progress in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere -- besides the inordinate number of passings of movement stalwarts last month. ==================================================================== CONTENTS: 1. Good Press: Toronto Star, New York Times, Orbanes, Heartland Institute. 2. News: World News Summaries - End of 2007 3. Numbers: The Progress Report daily news e-zine 4. Movement Progress: Down Under moving up 5. Letters: Retirement 6. Obituaries: Oscar Johannsen, Sydney Mayers, Art Rybeck. 7. Likable links: Wendell Fitzgerald Utube series, The Guardian, Global Oneness 8. What You Can Do: Depression of 2008 9. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes 10. Publication affairs: Contributors, About the Georgist News ==================================================================== 1a. What You Can Do: Sustainable Saturday at CGO conference By Sue Walton, sns at swwalton.com, January 23, 2007 July 12th will be Sustainable Saturday. Beginning with a Point/Counter-Point Debate on Georgism and the Environment at 10:30 am and then continuing after lunch with a session on Urban Agriculture with Georgist Activists Alanna Hartzok and Frank DeJong and Professor Emeritus John Ikerd of the University of Missouri-Columbia. This session will be followed by two other sessions: one on Mature Taxation with Canadian Mike Nickerson and another on Winners and Losers with Kansas Activist + Attorney Ann Zimmerman, John Ikerd, Frank DeJong and Alanna Hartzok. For more information on these and other conference sessions, please contact Sue Walton at sns at swwalton.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1a. Good Press: Canada's largest circulation daily A carbon tax creates jobs, letter in the Toronto Star, Jan. 20 By Frank de Jong, Leader, Green Party of Ontario A carbon tax should be used to create a revenue stream with which governments reduce other taxes by an equal amount, dollar for dollar. Shifting taxes off jobs and onto fossil fuels makes people less expensive to employ, and makes carbon-dioxide emissions more expensive. The result will be more labour-intensive and value-added production (more jobs) and less pollution. To recover lost jobs, to create additional jobs and to reduce pollution-related health-care costs, this province should immediately begin to unburden the productive economy (manufacturing) by reducing income and business taxes, and make up the lost revenue by collecting some of the unearned income that accrues to finite resources, like fossil fuels (royalties) and land (economic rent). -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1b. Good Press: New York Times By Heather Remoff, htr at epix.net, January 27, 2008 In the "Paperback Row" column of the Book Review Section of the January 27 New York Times, the following mini-synopsis of Monopoly: The World's Most Famous Game - and How It Got That Way, by Philip E. Orbanes. (Da Capo, $14.95) appears: "This spirited pop history describes Monopoly's early-20th-century origins in the Landlord's Game, based on the anti-monopoly theories of Henry George; the current version was released by Parker Brothers during the Depression. Orbanes advises the player to forget Park Place and build a portfolio of cheaper properties." -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1c. Good Press: Phil Orbanes (mis)cites Philadelphian Georgist By Richard Biddle, biddle19118 at yahoo.com, January 28, 2008 Phil Orbanes mentioned me on page 178 in 'MONOPOLY - THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS GAME AND HOW IT GOT THAT WAY' (2006) but not quite correctly: "Richard Biddle's life seems to run parallel with the Landlord's Game. Richard has the distinction of having been a student in Colonel Gene Raiford's chemistry class at Westtown School. Richard currently serves as the director of the Henry George Museum in Philadelphia. He is a tenth-generation Quaker and is familiar with Quaker connections to both Georgeism and the history of Monopoly. He once hosted a Georgist conference where Thomas Forsyth's game was displayed. His personal collection includes a partial 1910 Landlord's Game and one of the few extant 1939 Parker Brothers Landlord's Game." I am an 11th generation Quaker (only 10 generations with the Biddles but 11 with the Lippincotts; I am named after the first male Lippincott in America // actually I am officially an ex-Quaker and unofficially a Secular Humanist, as was Kurt Vonnegut). I do not own an original edition of 1906 (it was not 1910) Landlord's Game. I bid a lot of money on a squirrel-chewed board from a Pittsburgh attic with seven of about sixty cards (which are the real catch) several months ago but missed it when Owen's blackberry failed at the last seconds to submit a second higher (by+ $2500) backup, proxy bid on eBay. I do own two rare 1913 Scottish Landlord's Game knockoffs: Brer Fox an' Brer Rabbit and a few other gems. I am (still) the director of both the Henry George School and the Henry George Birthplace Museum in Philadelphia (the school seems to disappear at times - perhaps on purpose - when it is in fact 99% of the action at 413 S. 10th Street). While attending Westtown SchooI (Sept 1961- June 1964) I remember hearing at least once Colonel Gene Raiford's (my chemistry teacher) rant about Charles Darrow sort of stealing MONOPOLY and taking it to Parker Bros. and how he and Charles Todd had taught Charles Darrow how to play the Atlantic City Monopoly homemade version. They and their wives all played on the round board (now on display at FORBES MAGAZINE GALLERY in NYC) around a round kitchen table at 40 Westview Street in nearby West Mt Airy. The Todd copy, which Darrow, copied is also on display there. Charles Todd misspelled Marven Gardens as Marvin Gardens when he copied it from Colonel Raiford - a goof that has kept on goofing to over 200,000,000 copies since 1935. Gene Raiford, Chas. Todd and Darrow's wife, Esther Jones Darrow, all went to Westtown School, graduating in 1914 and 1915. I met Phil Orbanes once in 2005 for less than one minute in a center city Philadelphia parking garage, as he and I were leaving the AGPC (American Game + Puzzle Collector) conference. There was no FREE PARKING there that day. I did not display Thomas Forsyth's Landlord's Game at the 2005 CGO conference. On display was a low-resolution, slightly smaller copy of the 1906 Landlord's Game. I spell Georgism Georgism and sometimes georgism but never Georgeism. Orbanes never contacted me directly. Interestingly, Patrice McFarland (who RSF patronized to the tune of $40K to do a bio of Lizzie Magie about 1991) goes unmentioned - or at least not listed in the book's index. While it's true that Phil Orbanes has an encyclopedic knowledge, he fails to tell the whole, unvarnished truth on this subject... and unfortunately dazzles and leads seemingly intelligent people like Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason magazine, further astray... see http://reason.com/news/show/119242.html Not even the likes of Bill Moyers had time to unravel that bit of Gillespie's confusion in an interview with him last year. Mason Gaffney correctly observed last year: "Shall we infer from yours below that Orbanes is careless in his other research, as well? Patenting (or copyrighting?) a folk game may be the precedent for today's wild wave of patenting folk remedies from wild herbs." It's that and a whole lot more, I think. Yet another death-ray aimed at the many by the few disguised as often renewable-forever Trademarks (and time defined patents and copyrights) and spun out on a worldwide campaign of "legal harmonization" by our US Patent Office and its shills abroad. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1d. Good Press: Heartland Institute By Sue Walton, sns at swwalton.com, January 08, 2008 Chicago's Chuck Metalitz has a full page article in the Heartland Institute's Budget + Tax News, February, 2008 issue, entitled: "Public Transit Creates Value, but Fails to Collect". CGO President Ted Gwartney will have an article on School Finance in the March, 2008 issue. To view these articles on line visit the Heartland Institute's Website: www.heartland.org and click Budget + Tax News. ==================================================================== 2. News: World News Summaries - End of 2007 By Paul Martin, Director, Instituto Henry George, ihg at ibw.com.ni, January 01, 2008 Contact me for some articles presenting information and perspective relating to global economic, environmental and social issues, taken from newsfeeds of the last couple of months. Most of the articles have been abbreviated and edited with emphasis on keywords for quick informative reading, and to highlight the most useful facts. For more detail, or to interpret the spin of the article, there is a web link to the original article included under each headline. The source of all of these articles is truthout.org. [My own brief comments or clarifications before or in the middle of articles are indicated by parentheses, such as these.] You can see the current update of the latest IHG news and activities at our website www5.ibw.com.ni/~ihg ==================================================================== 3. Numbers: The Progress Report daily news e-zine By Jeffery J. Smith, jjs at geonomics.org, January 29, 2008 This daily Georgist news source offers much more information than can be squeezed into this monthly newsletter, news from around the world on issues related to getting and sharing -- or not -- the rent for land and resources. Some recent titles include: * Growth and productivity mean nothing when they are de-coupled from most people's lived experience: being squeezed. 'Experts Warn of Recession -- Duh, We're Living in One Already' * The FBI is kept busy by scam artists in our receding economy as prices skyrocket, yet one Aussie shows what works. 'Mortgage scams proliferate as new data show times turning tough' * Hermit naturalist Loodie Thoms shows Corey, Kenny, and Tepper Mother Nature, red in tooth and claw. 'Perfect Timing, Part 11, The same cycles keep balance in nature and markets' Visit your daily source of Georgist-relevant news. And it's non-Georgist-reader-friendly. So send your friends there for a good read, too. http://www.progress.org/ ==================================================================== 4. Movement Progress: Down Under moving up By Karl Fitzgerald, swymap at onthe.net.au, January 24, 2008 Prosper Australia has taken up the challenge set by our South Korean brethren's modern website by updating our website too: www.prosper.org.au We are now using Wordpress as the content managing system and are very happy with the flexibility. Please contact webmaster@prosper.org.au if you need any weblinks updated. The flow on from the 'I Want to Live Here' report has seen: * the publishing of "Considering Three Dimensional Economics" by Karl Fitzgerald amongst well respected academia in the Arena Journal * the Online Opinion article 'Housing affordability squeezed by speculators' receive over 250 comments - special thanks to former Prosper Australia President Lev Lafayette for his help in the online debate * unsolicited posts of support on Global House Price Crash.com Stay tuned to Earthsharing Australia's youtube page at: http://youtube.com/user/Earthsharing We have a new 3 minute piece going online very soon, complete with animations. Facebook: Earthsharing has made friends with 'Henry George' on this ever expanding social networking facility. Facebook fiends - join Earthsharing to keep up with our latest happenings at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5368118335 ==================================================================== 5. Letters: Retirement By Enzo Piccone, Jan 18, 2008 Hi, Jeff. This is to let you know that I no longer wish to copy-edit the GN. Carry on the good work, and I'll look forward to reading the next issue as a simple reader. :) Editor: Thanks for all you did. Was really good to meet you through email. Hope to see you in Italy or North America some day. Ciao. ==================================================================== 6a. Obituaries: Dr. Oscar Johannsen By the Newark Star Ledger, January 10, 2008, via Wyn Achenbaum Dr. Oscar B. Johannsen, 96, a dedicated proponent of the teachings of Henry George, died on Jan. 8, 2008, in Weston, Mass. A longtime Roselle Park resident, he was 96 years old and a day. Dr. Johannsen was born on Jan. 7, 1912, in New York City, where he graduated from the High School of Commerce at the age of 16. After one year of college at the University of Alabama and a year of traveling throughout the United States, he entered the labor force and soon joined the United States Steel Corporation at its New York City headquarters, where he worked in the executive offices. He served with the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946 at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and then returned to U.S. Steel. Dr. Johannsen obtained his bachelor of electrical engineering from the City College of New York in 1951, a master of business administration from New York University in 1967, and his doctorate of philosophy from NYU in 1983. After retirement, he began to volunteer at the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, publisher and promoter of the works of Henry George, an American journalist and reformer known for his ideas on taxation. Dr. Johannsen served as executive director of the foundation from 1979 until 1996. Dr. Johannsen had become interested in the philosophy of Henry George in the 1930s. He was greatly influenced by Frank Chodorov and other Georgists. As his interest and study grew, he began to teach and write and to actively promote the ideas of Henry George through numerous letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal and other publications. He also published a booklet entitled Private Schools for All, as well as the book, Man's Eternal Dilemma, which can be found on his website, www.libertarianlandphilosophy.com The book reviews the fundamental principles dealing with man's activities in the production of wealth and services and the relationship that exists among rent, wages and interest. For many years Dr. Johannsen taught courses at the Henry George School of Social Science in New York City and in Newark, and at his home in Roselle Park. In 1976 he joined the board of trustees of the school, and from 1996 to 1999 served as president and, from 1999 to 2004, as treasurer. He was also a trustee of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology. Dr. Johannsen was the husband of the late Irene (Tassi) and the late Catherine Ferguson (Wetzel); father of Peter G. Johannsen and his wife, Marion, of Wellesley Hills, Mass., and Christina B. Hanks and her husband, Nicholas, of Warnerville, N.Y.; step-father of Sandra Segala of Waldwick, Peter Segala and his wife, Barbara, of Southport, N.C., and brother of Edna Muller of Fanwood. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the Iroquois Indian Museum, P.O. Box 7, Howes Cave, N.Y. 12092, or to The Henry George School of Social Science, 121 E. 30th St., New York, N.Y. 10016. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 6b. Obituaries: Sydney Mayers By Sue Walton, January 01, 200 Ardent long time Georgist Sydney Mayers was a former President and a long time member of the board of directors of Henry George School-NY and president-emeritus of Henry George Institute. He succumbed on Sunday, 12/30/07. He was 100 years old. He is survived by his loving wife, Wallace, and many friends and relatives. For the further information, please contact HGS-NY (212/889-8020). -------------------------------------------------------------------- 6c. Obituaries: Dr. Art Rybeck (From the Wheeling News-Register, January 20, 2008; via Sue Walton and Nadine Stoner) RYBECK, Dr. Arthur "Art," 84, of Wheeling, W.Va., dentist and civic leader, died January 18, 2008, in Wheeling Hospital, where he admitted himself with stroke symptoms last Sunday. Active to the end, he was treating patients the previous day at the free dental clinic on his farm. He practiced dentistry with his partner, Dr. Donald Lough as part of Gentle Dental Care on Washington Avenue. In his life-long association with Oglebay Institute, he helped build the nature programs and was instrumental in planning and developing the Schrader Environmental Center. He and his wife of 57 years, Sivia Brody Rybeck, were also strong supporters of Oglebay's folk dancing, theater, opera, and music programs. He also had a life-long role in Temple Shalom and was, at his death, a member of its board. Rybeck developed New Dawn Farm on Dallas Pike, where he specialized in organic vegetables and eggs from free range chickens that he sold at the farmers' market. Besides a free clinic, his farm had a conference center and a workshop that manufactured dental instruments invented by Dr. Rybeck with L.D. "Curt" Curtis. He served on the board of the International Academy of Preventive Medicine. He was a member of the American Association of Periodontists and a Life Member of the American Association of Endodontists, the Pittsburgh Academy of Dentistry, the American Dental Association, and the WV Dental Association. He was also a past president of the Wheeling District Dental Society. Dr. Rybeck worked to make the state's tax system more fair. He served as a member of West Virginia's Silver Haired Legislature and as founder-president of MUST! (Mountaineers United for Sane Taxation!). He also gave lectures on health and nutrition as well as travelogues on China, the Galapagos Islands, and elsewhere. He was a 33rd degree Mason and member of the Scottish Rite, the Osiris Temple of the Shrine, the Ohio Valley Peace Group, and the Brooks Bird Club. Born August 2, 1923 in Wheeling, he was the son of the late Samuel "Ry" and Rosalind "Buddie" Rybeck. After graduating from Triadelphia High School, he attended West Virginia University before serving in World War II in France, the Philippines, and Japan. As part of his service, he also studied at Drexel Institute. After leaving the army, he earned his DDS degree from the University of Pennsylvania through the GI Bill. Besides his wife Sivia, Dr. Rybeck is survived by their five children, Charles "Chick" (Jan Rybeck) of Rockville, MD, Dan (Kate Searls) of Minneapolis, MN, Blanche of Maidsville, WV, Abe (Roberto Ugalde) of Cambridge, MA, and Ted (Ellen Brodsky) of Cambridge, MA. Art is survived by 12 grandchildren; as well as his brother, Walter (Erika Rybeck) of Silver Spring, MD, and their children Rick Rybeck (Ellen Czaplewski) of Washington, DC, and Alex Rybeck of New York, NY. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to Oglebay Institute (1330 National Road, Wheeling WV 26003; 304-242-4200 for either the scholarship fund for the Institute's nature camps or for a new scholarship fund to help local students learn international folk dancing. Dr. Arthur Rybeck, a long time member of Common Ground-USA and a long-time activist for land value taxation in West Virginia, had a letter published in the Charleston Gazette on January 2. He was the brother of equally active Common Ground-USA member and land value tax activist Walter Rybeck. Sympathy cards may be mailed to: Mrs. S. Arthur Rybeck and family, 16 Birch Ave., Wheeling, WV 26003; phone 304-242-7312 and to: Walter and Erica Rybeck, 3152 Gracefield, # 519, Silver Spring, MD 20904, phone 301-890-8578; email waltrybeck@aol.com ==================================================================== 7a. Likable link: Wendell Fitzgerald Utube series By Alanna Hartzok, Co-Director, Earth Rights Institute, Alanna at earthrights.net, January 17, 2008 Wendell Fitzgerald, President, Henry George School of San Francisco, has a film series of Georgist lectures on YouTube, including interviews by Peter Melton. The 8-part series mentions many of the wealth and want themes. It includes these topics: Part 1: Progress + Poverty Part 2: Progress and Poverty (continued) Part 3: Progress and Poverty (continued) Part 4: Progress and Poverty: "Housing Bubble" is Really a Land Bubble Part 5: Exclusive Use of Land: the Law of the Conqueror Part 6: Value of Land is Created by the Community Land Value and Free Lunch, Part 1 Land Value and Free Lunch, Part 2 They can be found here: http://www.wealthandwant.com/docs/HGS-SF_youtube.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------- 7b. Likable link: The "Guardian" By David Brooks The "Guardian" for January 2008 is available at http://people.aapt.net.au/~radical/Guardian.html in .pdf I hope you all enjoy the reading! -------------------------------------------------------------------- 7c. Likable link: Global Oneness By Jeff Smith Global Oneness, a huge web site on health, spirituality, personal development, and inspirationals, has a page on the Citizen's Dividend: http://www.experiencefestival.com/citizens_dividend Any reader know who posted the info there? ==================================================================== 8. What You Can Do: Depression of 2008 By Fred Foldvary, January 01, 2008 Dr. Fred Foldvary's booklet The Depression of 2008 is available to GN readers at the steeply discounted price of $5, at http://www.foldvary.net/Gutenberg/press.html email: gutenbergpress at pobox.com The booklet explains the real estate cycle and the timing of recessions and depressions. Mention that you are a Georgist News reader to get the discounted price. ==================================================================== 9. At the Margin: Quips and Quotes Chainsaw Consultant - An outside expert brought in to reduce the employee head count, leaving the top brass with clean hands. Uninstalled - Euphemism for being fired. See also Decruitment. Xerox Subsidy - Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's workplace. Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. -- Buddha ==================================================================== 10a. Publication affairs: Contributing to this issue Wyn Achenbaum, Richard Biddle, David Brooks, Frank de Jong, Karl Fitzgerald, Fred Foldvary, Alanna Hartzok, Paul Martin, Enzo Piccone, Heather Remoff, Nadine Stoner, Sue Walton. Editor: Jeffery J. Smith Copy Editor: Caspar Davis Archivist: Stewart Goldwater Owner: The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation Founder: Adam Monroe Send your news and other interesting material to the Georgist News at jjs at geonomics.org or gn at progress.org The deadline for the next issue is February 23. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 10b. Publication affairs: About The Georgist News The Georgist News, a project of the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, is an email newsletter brought to you free of charge. Its purpose is to keep you updated on the latest news, citations, events, and initiatives of relevance to people who, like Henry George, seek a world free from special privilege and the causes of poverty. Do you know someone who'd enjoy reading the GN? Please forward them an issue and ask them to subscribe, or send us their eddress. As always, it's free. Thanks. The Georgist News is also available online at http://www.georgist.com/ ==================================================================
The Georgist News, Volume Ten, Number Eight, February 1, 2008