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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
michael saber davidson
Published Letters: 8
Short-sighted articles are a bore. The author didn't do his homework on building permit approvals for towers in other parts of the United States - namely Chicago, which currently has underway (under construction, approved by the city plan commission, or otherwise slated for development) dozens --- and I mean dozens --- of 50-, 60-, 70-, 80-, 90-, and 100-story towers in the pipeline. The 94-story Trump Tower is nearing completion (and with decent reviews from the city's acclaimed architectural critics), and the 150-story Calatrava-designed Chicago Spire is well underway. The city's skyline is defined largely by construction cranes at the moment. But cities are more than the sum of their towers, as many others have already said. All buildings have a proper place and should be designed for humans and nature, which is best determined by a city visionaries, a municipal comprehensive plan to reflect that vision, an up-to-date zoning code to carry it out, and a democratic urban planning process so citizens can take ownership and pride in their city. The architects come later.
The pundits and talking heads sustain careers and appease ill-informed constituents by covering irresponsible, damaging behavior in a cloak of American freedoms. When I see an obese 20-something, drive through this country's suburban sprawl of large-lot, snout-house subdivisions (comprised of homes with 3-car garages and 52-inch plasma TV screens in "great rooms"), or listen to a barrage of mind-numbing 30-second ads selling us things to make us whole and complete, I don't think of freedom. On the contrary, I feel enslaved. Rampant consumerism preys upon the bored, the lonely, and the empty (demons we all struggle with to some degree). The result is a distraction from self and neighbor followed by a cultural nervous breakdown of sorts. Textbook psychology, really.
Capitalism in America today is no longer part of our once-admired free-market economy, which is where it belongs. Rather it's the very culture itself. Immediately following 9-11, capitalist extraordinaire George W. Bush told us to go out and shop (seriously, for those whose grief clouds their memory). The status-quo mentality that allows a Bush Administration to happen, who so furiously fights "big" government, have effectively (and intentionally) created a new (albeit glossier) Big Brother: the post-millenium American Capitalism - a kind of legitimized greed fostered during the Reagan administration and now on steroids. Like addiction or a sugar high, I don't see how this is sustainable in the long-term. At some point you crash.
Honestly, this clip has no effect on my belief in Obama's capacity to handle the presidency. McCain's campaign dollars will be better spent on his policy platform rather than attempting to indict the vulgar, opportunistic broadcast media. But perhaps as an American who reads the newspaper each morning I am not the target audience for the clip.
I support Obama NOT because he is devoid of flaw. Rather, the countless articles I've read about him paint a portrait of a man who is a critical thinker, intellectually curious, literate, thoughtful, non-narcissistic, and non-reactionary. These are the personality characteristics that create a better world. If the media swoon over this, that's their problem. McCain's attempt to expose them just makes him look insecure and defensive.
This isn't about Bristol Palin, her fetus, or her mother for that matter. It's about the dangers of a moral absolutist position on matters that cannot be approached rigidly in families or public policy. The GOP can't possibly live up to their own unrealistic standards. Teenagers have sex because nature tells them to, and powerfully. Many in this party want sex education programming gone from public schools. In many school districts around the country, the classroom is the only place where kids have a shot at learning about sex. Our theocrats want to take away their access to information about birth control in favor of "parental" education about abstinence. It's these same folks that would cut funding for the programs the young mother needs to raise a child when she so righteously carries the unwanted baby to term without family support, love, or the resources it deserves. Victims of their dreadful circumstance, they both take more from society than they contribute and all suffer thereby. Where's the morality?
I've read countless theories about the psychology of American voters and why they so often cast a ballot against their own interests. But none of them are as satisfying as the concise explanation presented by Bill Maher:
"Americans are so narcissistic that our candidates have to be just like us. That's why George Bush is president."
Published in an article entitled, "Republicans, Stop Calling Obama Elitist" Subtitle: "Because the real reason you don't like him is that he's smarter than you." Saturday, September 6, 2008 by Salon.com
Mr. Hoyle's article is further proof.
My mind is spinning with three possible reasons for the president elect’s dreadfully poor choice for the inauguration invocation: 1) an uncharacteristic lapse in judgment, 2) a misguided strategy to look "inclusive" by an administration under intense pressure not to be exclusionary or, 3) wholesale support of a slap-in-the-face religious ideology against gay Americans.
I supported this administration with excitement and resources, and I am politically astute enough to understand that nobody gets everything they want from their president in a country as complex and dynamic as this one. But Mr. Warren and his high-profile mean-spirited, divisive, and superstitious beliefs have breached the walls of public policy, and now he’ll stand before the world on January 9th to bless an administration that promises to change this sort of thing. Surely, there was a better choice.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
