Keeping track of public opinion, if any. Joseph Schwieterman and Brian Maddox of DePaul University on the results of their national survey on railroad policy (“Railgram,” February): “Don’t expect citizens to have even a rudimentary knowledge of historical events shaping today’s industry. When asked when Amtrak established service, more than a third responded with dates before the end of World War II. One in 12 responded that Amtrak was created during the 1800s (Amtrak ran its first train in 1971).”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Of course, they could go outside and sniff. Illinois State University agribusiness professor Cheryl Wachenheim, quoted in an Illinois Pork Producers Association press release, on why downstate county boards shouldn’t be allowed to decide on where mega hog farms can locate: “It would be unrealistic to expect county boards to have the information to accurately assess the environmental and economic impact of hog farm expansion.”
“You may not have heard about the MAI [Multilateral Agreement on Investment] before,” writes David Moberg in the Progressive (March). It would confer an extra bundle of rights on multinational corporations. “Its beneficiaries prefer it that way.” Strangely oblivious to its own preference,
