Hunter's Canvas

The inevitable...

C, originally uploaded by DavidGardinerGarcia.


It feels inevitable.  It seems all of New York that was once old, sturdy, beautiful, full of history and a different better way of life will yield to looming towers, greed, and disconnection from the neighborhood.  What seems so obviously destructive to our culture and how we live amongst each other has become the norm.

It's especially interesting when this push for new buildings becomes very literally destructive - in this case the crane that ripped through the apartments and lives of a few East Side tenants.  The New York Times published a follow-up story today illustrating what's wrong with the New York real estate situation:

'Given the perverse logic of Manhattan real estate, the crane accident, a symbol of runaway development in New York, may end up paving the way for even more of it. “The landlord has no motivation to do repairs when he could tear a building down and build a highly profitable office tower instead,” says Adam Leitman Bailey, the lawyer for Crave Ceviche Bar.'

And so it goes.  Property owners are extremely influential and hold much power over the future and culture of a city.  And with money it seems as their sole motivator, our neighborhoods and our values do not stand a chance. 

 

Coney Island remains open for another season!

Coney Island will stay open through next season.  I am very happy to hear that we can enjoy Burlesque at the Beach once again.

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Krugman: A (Deregulation) Catastrophe Foretold

Paul Krugman's op-ed essay this week details how government officials understood the volatility of the subprime mortgage market and looked the other way.  Why do the folks in charge still think that deregulation is a good thing for consumers?  It seems to have only disastrous effects no matter what the industry: the savings and loan crisis, the California Energy crisis, airline bankruptcies, the current state of our environment and now media and internet deregulation.

Can someone explain to me how this is any good for us regular folks?

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Now Murdoch can own everything!

Chairman of the FCC Kevin J. Martin, has proposed major changes to the current media ownership rules essentially opening up the floodgates for the likes of Rupert Murdoch to own pretty much all the media outlets in a given city.  Right now, you cannot own a newspaper and a TV or radio station in the same city.  Probably a good thing considering the state of mainstream media at the moment.

One of the things that really piss me off about this is the timetable: he's looking to have the change go into as early as December; not nearly enough time to get a real sense of whether or not this is the right thing to do.  I just feel this is so obviously about greed and money and power, that it can't possibly be for the greater good of society.  But who cares about society these days anyway?

If you are as nervous about these proposed changes as I am, you can send an email to your congressman asking him/her to hold hearings on the subject.  And for your entertainment, play Whack-a-Murdoch here.

My weekly nod to Paul Krugman

Only a truly vicious political movement...

Krugman's NYT op-ed piece this week is (as always) a call for people to be reasonable, caring and just.  In the essay, he discusses the (deplorable) Republican backlash against the family put forth as a case study in why we should expand the S-chip program.  The family is lower-middle class, met all financial requirements (couldn't afford insurance that costs $1,200/month on a combined income of ~$45k) and was a great success story. 

As per their usual, the right-wing pundits made them out to be a fraud.  Yes, a child with head injuries (Graeme Frost) whose parents could not afford over-priced health care are a fraud, lying to the government, trying to dupe our good citizens. 

Give me a break.  Seriously.

Who's your favorite economist?

Paul Krugman's mine.  He's an op-ed columnist for the New York Times and a professor of Economics and International affairs at Princeton University.  His piece in today's NYT, "Conservatives Are Such Jokers," was sparked by G.W.'s veto of the SCHIP legislation and in it he makes important and (I think) truthful distinctions between Republicans and Democrats.  He puts forth that Republicans tend to minimize the suffering of the poor, hungry and the uninsured by poking fun and making jokes while Democrats seem to be affected by the humanity of the situation and actually try to do something about it. 

Also, his analysis of G.W.'s idiotic speaking fumbles is rather poignant:
"Mark Crispin Miller, the author of 'The Bush Dyslexicon,' once made a striking observation: all of the famous Bush malapropisms — 'I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family,' and so on — have involved occasions when Mr. Bush was trying to sound caring and compassionate.

By contrast, Mr. Bush is articulate and even grammatical when he talks about punishing people; that’s when he’s speaking from the heart. The only animation Mr. Bush showed during the flooding of New Orleans was when he declared 'zero tolerance of people breaking the law,' even those breaking into abandoned stores in search of the food and water they weren’t getting from his administration."

I think it's time we elected a president who actually cares about the people s/he governs.  Do I hear any votes for Dennis Kucinich?

Baby Bush interns with UNICEF, makes $300K

Jenna Bush, AKA Twinkle, has decided to grow up and get rich on her own.  Banking on her year-long internship with UNICEF, Jenna's written a book (Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope) which she hopes will "motivate young Americans to increase their awareness of other young people around the world." 

Though HarperCollins hasn't revealed how much they paid the 25-year-old for the publishing rights, it's believed to be over $300,000, of which a "portion" will be donated back to UNICEF.

The book recounts the life of a young woman named Ana whose life has been one struggle after another: born HIV-positive, both her parents died from AIDS, her grandmother's boyfriend molested her.  But, just like real life, this book has a happy ending: she "falls in love," has a baby and "finds a peaceful home where she can plan a new life."

Maybe if Jenna had spent less time writing her book, and instead lobbied against her father and his anti-woman policies like the Global Gag Rule, she could've actually helped someone.  But alas, just like her father, it seems she's a greedy hypocrite.

Links:
Guardian UK, NYT, Reuters, Booklist via Amazon