Tuesday, July 27, 2004
This is pretty damning stuff. When they first began contruction of the Mpls to Bloomington line, I remember assuming that the line would be elevated -- that traffic into and off of Hiawatha would not have to stop for trains. But after a while it was clear that the tracks would go right across the road and that feeder traffic would be stopped while a train was on the tracks. In retrospect it makes sense that this would completely mess up the flow of traffic. How in the hell can they fix this? This seriously hurts the chances of an expansion of LRT in the metro-area. Adam and Nolan, maybe you've seen how dramitacally traffic is actually affected?
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Here are some excerpts from Bill Moyers' interview with Thomas Frank:
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[W]hen people say, "Well, class should have no place in our politics" — this is usually Republicans who are saying this and they usually say it when Democrats bring things up like the gap between CEO pay and working class pay — then they'll say, "Well, we shouldn't… that's class war, there's no place for that in American politics."
But at the same time, these same people use class language all the time. Forever attacking the liberal elite, forever making fun of liberal taste in coffee and in cars. You know, they drive Volvos instead of Chevys, they drink lattes, you know. They eat their fancy French cheese or in the case of John Kerry, they even speak French.
You know, these kind of… they class bait liberals all the time. This is their stock in trade, this is what makes the whole thing go is that they found a way to appeal to class anger. And to express the class grievance without mentioning economics.
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[W]hen Clinton signed NAFTA, which was, you remember was a very, very important issue to the labor movement in America, and to working class people generally when Clinton signed off on NAFTA, they said, "You know, why are we voting for the Democrats? They don't give us anything. They don't agree with us on anything. They don't agree with us on the economic issues, or on the cultural issues. We might as well go to the party that agrees with us on the cultural issues."
There was no longer a distinction on the economic issues. This says essentially values matter most, because there is nothing else out there anymore. The Democrats don't want to fight on the economic issues anymore.
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MOYERS: So, the answer to your question, "What's the matter with Kansas?"
FRANK: Hey, it's "What's the matter with America?"
MOYERS: And what is it?
FRANK: It's the culture war. The culture war is what's the matter with us. That we're fighting over cultural issues.
Fighting back and forth over cultural issues. You know? We fight over the content of Hollywood movies. We vote over the content of Hollywood movies.
Congress has no effect on what they do in Hollywood. We're fighting over shadow issues, and ignoring the bread and butter things, the things that make, you know, that determine the way that we lead our lives, that determine the quality of life, at the most basic, fundamental level.
Instead we're fighting over, you know, are there liberals in the Yale English department? You know? Stuff like that.
MOYERS: So, the issues you would like to see us fight over are wages, benefits, health care, retirement?
FRANK: I'm a single-issue voter. And my issue is the economy.
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[W]hen people say, "Well, class should have no place in our politics" — this is usually Republicans who are saying this and they usually say it when Democrats bring things up like the gap between CEO pay and working class pay — then they'll say, "Well, we shouldn't… that's class war, there's no place for that in American politics."
But at the same time, these same people use class language all the time. Forever attacking the liberal elite, forever making fun of liberal taste in coffee and in cars. You know, they drive Volvos instead of Chevys, they drink lattes, you know. They eat their fancy French cheese or in the case of John Kerry, they even speak French.
You know, these kind of… they class bait liberals all the time. This is their stock in trade, this is what makes the whole thing go is that they found a way to appeal to class anger. And to express the class grievance without mentioning economics.
-------------------------------------------------
[W]hen Clinton signed NAFTA, which was, you remember was a very, very important issue to the labor movement in America, and to working class people generally when Clinton signed off on NAFTA, they said, "You know, why are we voting for the Democrats? They don't give us anything. They don't agree with us on anything. They don't agree with us on the economic issues, or on the cultural issues. We might as well go to the party that agrees with us on the cultural issues."
There was no longer a distinction on the economic issues. This says essentially values matter most, because there is nothing else out there anymore. The Democrats don't want to fight on the economic issues anymore.
-------------------------------------------------
MOYERS: So, the answer to your question, "What's the matter with Kansas?"
FRANK: Hey, it's "What's the matter with America?"
MOYERS: And what is it?
FRANK: It's the culture war. The culture war is what's the matter with us. That we're fighting over cultural issues.
Fighting back and forth over cultural issues. You know? We fight over the content of Hollywood movies. We vote over the content of Hollywood movies.
Congress has no effect on what they do in Hollywood. We're fighting over shadow issues, and ignoring the bread and butter things, the things that make, you know, that determine the way that we lead our lives, that determine the quality of life, at the most basic, fundamental level.
Instead we're fighting over, you know, are there liberals in the Yale English department? You know? Stuff like that.
MOYERS: So, the issues you would like to see us fight over are wages, benefits, health care, retirement?
FRANK: I'm a single-issue voter. And my issue is the economy.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Thanks for the album suggestions, guys. Both the Boom Boom Satellites cover and the Swedish cover are cool. I have decided, however, that I would feel silly hanging an album cover for a band that I'm not into. Fortunately, Dana and I have revised our design plans. The new plan calls for only three covers, so now it's Heatmiser, Slint, and Guzzard. I ordered the Heatmiser and Slint albums from insound today. I am still trying to track down an LP copy of Guzzard: Get a Witness.
Hey Nolan, I have been reading a ton of David Sedaris, per your suggestion. He is absolutely hilarious. I think "Me Talk Pretty One Day" is my favorite, but everything I have read has been outstanding, including "Naked" and his newest work. He certainly has a way with words.
I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 on the Fourth of July in Eugene, Oregon, quite possibly the most liberal place on earth. As I expected, I enjoyed the movie because Moore is really quite talented at putting together a moving piece of film, and because I agree with his opinions. But, as I also expected, I think Moore does those of us on the left a great dis-service by being, well, untruthful. The whole thing was just so god-damn vague I have a hard time believing much of it. I will say that the graphic images made quite an impression on me.
I caught parts of Bill Moyers' interview of Thomas Frank. Frank's theory (as explained in his new book) is that the red states are now red because the Democrats abandoned rural, workin' folks when they moved to the center on economic issues. When this happened, the red-staters basically said to themselves, "if no one is going to fight for us on economic issues, then we might as well support the party that's with us on social issues (the Republicans)." And that, in a nutshell, is why blue collar dudes support the GOP. Then Frank explained that social issues (gay marriage, abortion, the content of movies) serve to merely distract everyone from the real issues. That's why he is a single issue voter, the single issue being the economy. I found it interesting. I'll link to the transcript when it becomes available on Moyers' website.
Finally, www.cdreviews.com is looking for reviewers.
Hey Nolan, I have been reading a ton of David Sedaris, per your suggestion. He is absolutely hilarious. I think "Me Talk Pretty One Day" is my favorite, but everything I have read has been outstanding, including "Naked" and his newest work. He certainly has a way with words.
I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 on the Fourth of July in Eugene, Oregon, quite possibly the most liberal place on earth. As I expected, I enjoyed the movie because Moore is really quite talented at putting together a moving piece of film, and because I agree with his opinions. But, as I also expected, I think Moore does those of us on the left a great dis-service by being, well, untruthful. The whole thing was just so god-damn vague I have a hard time believing much of it. I will say that the graphic images made quite an impression on me.
I caught parts of Bill Moyers' interview of Thomas Frank. Frank's theory (as explained in his new book) is that the red states are now red because the Democrats abandoned rural, workin' folks when they moved to the center on economic issues. When this happened, the red-staters basically said to themselves, "if no one is going to fight for us on economic issues, then we might as well support the party that's with us on social issues (the Republicans)." And that, in a nutshell, is why blue collar dudes support the GOP. Then Frank explained that social issues (gay marriage, abortion, the content of movies) serve to merely distract everyone from the real issues. That's why he is a single issue voter, the single issue being the economy. I found it interesting. I'll link to the transcript when it becomes available on Moyers' website.
Finally, www.cdreviews.com is looking for reviewers.
