Archives for May, 2004
Mile High Skyscraper
Frank Lloyd Wright conceptualized a mile high tower called “The Illinois”.
Chicago Firm Designs World’s Tallest Building
From the Chicagoist (not sure about that name)
From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity
From the Washington Post
It was a typical week in the life of the Bush reelection machine.Last Monday in Little Rock, Vice President Cheney said Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry “has questioned whether the war on terror is really a war at all” and said the senator from Massachusetts “promised to repeal most of the Bush tax cuts within his first 100 days in office.”
On Tuesday, President Bush’s campaign began airing an ad saying Kerry would scrap wiretaps that are needed to hunt terrorists.
The same day, the Bush campaign charged in a memo sent to reporters and through surrogates that Kerry wants to raise the gasoline tax by 50 cents.
On Wednesday and Thursday, as Kerry campaigned in Seattle, he was greeted by another Bush ad alleging that Kerry now opposes education changes that he supported in 2001.
The charges were all tough, serious — and wrong, or at least highly misleading. Kerry did not question the war on terrorism, has proposed repealing tax cuts only for those earning more than $200,000, supports wiretaps, has not endorsed a 50-cent gasoline tax increase in 10 years, and continues to support the education changes, albeit with modifications.
Scholars and political strategists say the ferocious Bush assault on Kerry this spring has been extraordinary, both for the volume of attacks and for the liberties the president and his campaign have taken with the facts. Though stretching the truth is hardly new in a political campaign, they say the volume of negative charges is unprecedented — both in speeches and in advertising.
Three-quarters of the ads aired by Bush’s campaign have been attacks on Kerry. Bush so far has aired 49,050 negative ads in the top 100 markets, or 75 percent of his advertising. Kerry has run 13,336 negative ads — or 27 percent of his total. The figures were compiled by The Washington Post using data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group of the top 100 U.S. markets. Both campaigns said the figures are accurate.
In Canada, the pundits have a feeling that running negative ads will backfire on whoever does it this election despite their history of working well for the one running them. It doesn’t seem to have any negative results so far south of the border but that election is a long, long time away. Should be interesting.
Revenge of the Squelchers
The Rise of the Creative Class author Richard Florida answers his critics.
It would be an understatement to say that my book The Rise of the Creative Class has generated heated debate. With the national culture wars escalating on all fronts, it’s not surprising that most of the controversy revolves around the idea that cities with thriving arts and cultural climates and openness to diversity of all sorts also enjoy higher rates of innovation and high-wage economic growth.From the right, consider what Steven Malanga of the neo-conservative Manhattan Institute has to say: “to a generation of liberal urban policymakers and politicians who favor big government, Florida’s ideas offer a way to talk economic-development talk while walking the familiar big-spending walk… Yes, you can create needed revenue-generating jobs without having to take the unpalatable measures — shrinking government and cutting taxes — that appeal to old-economy businessmen… You can draw in Florida’s creative-class capitalists-ponytails, jeans, rock music, and all-by liberal, big-government means: diversity celebrations, ‘progressive’ social legislation, and government spending on cultural amenities.”
From the left, Joel Kotkin and Fred Siegel write the following in Blueprint, a magazine associated with the Democratic Leadership Council: “One hundred of them — they called themselves the ‘Creative 100′ — met in Memphis last spring… Their mission… is to ‘remove barriers to creativity, such as mediocrity, intolerance, disconnectedness, sprawl, poverty, bad schools, exclusivity, and social and environmental degradation.’ The 1934 Soviet constitution couldn’t have said it better.” That’s not all. In the period since my book was published, I have been accused of undermining traditional family values (I don’t), of promoting a gay agenda (I’m straight), and of undermining the very tenets of Judeo-Christian civilization (I’m at a loss).
Such heated rhetoric puzzles me; I harbor no hidden agendas. I am a political independent, fiscal conservative, social liberal, and believer in vigorous international competition and free trade. Over the course of a twenty-year academic career, I have voted for and served under Democrats and Republicans. Today, I work closely with mayors, governors, business, political, and civic leaders from both sides of the aisle on economic development issues, and a good deal of the time, I cannot even tell who is Republican and who is Democrat-a welcome contrast to our horribly polarized national politics. My core team of colleagues and collaborators includes liberals and conservatives, marrieds and singles, recent college graduates to well into middle-age, straights and gays. What binds us together is not a political agenda, but our common determination to identify the key factors that drive technological innovation, spur growth, and ultimately bring about improved living standards.
In the forward to the Australian edition of The Rise of the Creative Class, entrepreneur Terry Cutler recounts presenting our findings to a meeting of distinguished intellectuals and civic leaders. “Summoning up my courage,” he writes, “I described…the correlation between bohemianism and diversity in the location of high tech firms. The palpable recoil around the room at such a radical and distasteful recipe for success left me in no doubt that these civic leaders would clearly prefer to drift into a genteel poverty.”
The great urbanist Jane Jacobs has a word for this kind of person. What distinguishes thriving cities from those that stagnate and decline is a group of people she calls the “squelchers.” Squelchers, she explains, are those political, business, and civic leaders that divert human creative energy by posing roadblocks and saying “no” to new ideas. What worries me is that, even when they are wrong on the facts, my critics continue to provide ample ammunition for squelchers.
In the following pages, I’ll do my best to engage my critics from across the ideological spectrum. In doing so, I’ll outline what I believe is at stake in the ongoing debate over economic development. I’ll conclude by highlighting several critical challenges that society as a whole must address if we are to realize more robust economic growth and a better quality of life.
The truth comes out
Scott tells the story of what happened at a recent First Nations’ gathering with New Heights.
Conservative Party of Canada Blog
No syndication feeds or comments but has permalinks and some personality. Why is it that all Canadian political blogs are so much inferior to the American campaigns? Of all of the Canadian political blogs I have read, only Ed Broadbent’s seems to have a voice and personality.
The Canadian blogs content seems way over written, generally anonymous, and just cliches driven. While the Conservative one seems to be better written, it still seems a little flat. Hopefully as the election continues, the blog will loosen up a little bit.
Bad week for Paul Martin
Wendy and I saw Prime Minister Martin walk into Chris Axworthy’s campaign office today. We were thinking of going to hear him speak but either he was early or we were late and the place looked busy and I didn’t feel like walking in late. Plus there were bag pipers piping. I hate bag pipes. That and there was a lot of people wearing suits. I was in jeans. I hate going in to places where I feel really under dressed. I know that is stupid but I am starting to realize why many poor don’t feel comfortable in church.
As for whom I am voting for, I am still officially undecided. I have struck off one candidate from the list but am still choosing between two others.
2004 Emergent Theological Conversation with Walter Brueggermann
September 13-15, 2004. Wish I could be there.
Bloggers find ways to profit
I should probably read this… several times.
The Effects of a Global Thermonuclear War
If one had happened in 1988.
The Church Trap
One of the catchwords in contemporary Protestantism is that religion must aid man in “becoming human” or even “truly human” — whatever that means — and the “model” is Christ. Take the “obvious things” about Christ as listed by a contemporary minister:
He was a popular and controversial preacher;
He gathered a group of followers;
He spent most of his time with the disinherited;
He taught with authority;
He never married;
He never (so far as we know) held a job;
He did not participate in public affairs;
He did not have income, property, or an address;
He was in bitter and frequent conflict with the religious and political authorities;
He seemed to expect that the world would be eminently, radically, and supernaturally transformed;
He attacked the traditions and values of his own people;
He practically forced the authorities to prosecute and execute him.There is nothing exclusively religious, much less Christian, in this description, which, with a few exceptions, might apply also to Socrates or to “Che” Guevara. I asked many socially oriented ministers why they were Christians at all. Some said through faith, and some said that Christianity gave them courage and the motivation to endure (but so do other beliefs). Some said they hardly knew and that, if another, more acceptable, ideology came along, they would embrace it.
Arthur Herzog,
Martin’s Quebec man falters, as the Bloc campaign sails on
From the Toronto Star
This week, he made the rookie gaffe of admitting the Liberals might be headed into a minority government. Then, he attacked the media for distorting what he said, a rich accusation. Lapierre, who worked as a radio host before joining “Team Martin,” was reprimanded by the Quebec Press Council this week for distorting an interview with a city politician who was on his show in December.The man who is supposed to be the Liberals’ point man in Quebec is now avoiding debates and trying to turn around headlines that have dubbed him “the Liberals’ little-loved Quebec lieutenant.”
Fellow-Quebec Liberals, such as Pierre Pettigrew, who think they, too, might make a pretty good Quebec boss, will be sharpening the knives if Lapierre doesn’t get his act together soon.
The Bessborough
While walking with Mark and Wendy on Victoria Day Monday.
Notes from home
Had a lot of fun the last couple of days with Wendy. She has been reading To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time. I asked her the other day, “Did you get to the part where Atticus is killed?” She looked quite sad when I said that. I was punched solidly when she finished the book and Atticus was very much alive.
Been working a fair bit this week. I got called in for a shift yesterday as a cashier. Not a problem but I am not really trained to be a cashier, just a backup, in an emergency cashier. I know one code. It’s for bananas. So unless the person was purchasing bananas, it wasn’t pretty.
It rained most of yesterday and all night. Makes me glad I watered so heavily the other day. Nothing like seeing a small stream flow off your lawn and down the street.
Another vehicle was broken into the other night. As if that is news.
The Front-Runner’s Fall
The Dean implosion up close, from the vantage point of the candidate’s pollster. In the Atlantic Monthly.
Our Cabin Weblog- Recently listened to music
- David Gray – Be Mine October 19, 2008
- David Gray – December October 19, 2008
- David Gray – Knowhere October 19, 2008
- David Gray – Real Love October 19, 2008
- David Gray – Last Boat To America October 19, 2008
- Recently additions to my library
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