Glenn moyer
Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:42:21 -0800
Ricky, You still need to pull all of this information together to make your point. I've noticed that lots of people are being pulled by different emotions lately. Me too! But it's much better to open up than to be fearful like way too many of our neighbors! I'd like to hear your thoughts focused on these statements--
"A McDonald's hamburger is >said to cost an acre of rain forest (so the cattle can graze.) A >developer of what we know not yet, tears down a shelter for survivors >of domestic violence and plows under a community garden in our own >neighborhood so the land can sit unused behind a cyclone fence until >when? Market conditions improve? The true cost of meat is a very important global and health issue! As to the local situation, our community leaders decided to help destroy our right to know important issues. When we accept back room deals because we believe that benefits will trickle down, the other questions can't be easily answered. Peace and good will to all, Glenn -----Original Message----- >From: Richard Moreau <ric...@mac.com> >Sent: Jan 22, 2010 11:19 AM >To: Univ City Listserv <univcity@list.purple.com> >Subject: Re: [UC] The supreme court attacks the people > >I've always found it interesting that the tallest building in a >community speaks to who holds the power. > >In colonial (U.S.) days church steeples were the tallest, so people >could find them over (New England) hill and dale. > >Then City Hall, at least in Philadelphia, was the tallest by >'gentlemen's' agreement, speaking to the unifying power of a >government of the people, for the people and by the people. > >The Empire State Building arguably spoke to the power of television. > >The Sears (now Willis?) Tower spoke to the power of retail and >consumption. (Willis is a law firm? Hmm.) > >In Philadelphia, Liberty Place was eventually built, its main tenant >being an insurance company, Cigna, speaking to the economic needs of >the community to promote business through real estate development in a >city that hadn't previously been very competitive in the national >marketplace. (And shouldn't an insurance company's money be going to >cover people in times of need, not building fancy buildings?) > >The World Trade Center and nearly 3000 of its occupants were >obliterated by an organization that uses violence and fear to get what >it wants. Not to mention the damage done to the headquarters of >arguably the most powerful military in the world. > >Now we have Comcast (& soon NBC-Universal) with the tallest building >in town, speaking to the rise (and consolidation) of the media, the >internet, and communication more generally. > >We're seeing internet giant Google take on China in a way that few >countries have dared, and risk-taking big banks and mortgage companies >threaten national and international economies, costing people their >homes, jobs, and health care. HUP continues to build highly >specialized and expensive facilities on land that had housed a Civic >Center and a hospital for the poor. (While the Convention - not Civic >- Center expansion, and the now nearly empty Gallery and, before that, >the "Chinese Wall" strangles Chinatown. Penn Center office buildings >symbolically and literally send rail travel under ground. Penn builds >a park (for now) and mixed use buildings on land that was used by an >organization that delivers snail mail by hand, door to door - >something that may soon seem like the Pony Express does to us now. >Home Depot controls the world lumber market. A McDonald's hamburger is >said to cost an acre of rain forest (so the cattle can graze.) A >developer of what we know not yet, tears down a shelter for survivors >of domestic violence and plows under a community garden in our own >neighborhood so the land can sit unused behind a cyclone fence until >when? Market conditions improve? We get so tired of the empty lot that >we'll accept any building / use instead? > >Okay, I'm straying from my point about the height of a building >speaking to its owner's power; maybe now it's more about the number of >buildings? Or maybe my argument should be more about land use and >power. But now an even taller building, the tallest in the U.S., I >think, is planned for 18th and Arch, though I don't know who its main >tenant will be. Anyone want to take a guess as to who the next >powerful force in our culture will be? Maybe that's where one of the >casinos will end up, since we seem to have lost so much of our faith >in hard work bearing fruitful results; now we have to rely on luck and >chance. (Or am I just channeling my feelings about Haiti.) > >Tying this back to Glenn's post, the Supreme Court is a rather short >building. Hmm. > >I should add too that I say some of this with judgment, but some >without, just as observation. Who knows, maybe HUP will discover a >cure for cancer on the former site of Philadelphia General Hospital. >Maybe a free art museum will end up at 43rd and Baltimore? People >point to the spread of Tibetan Buddhism, something I admire, as being >due to the otherwise terrible circumstances of China's invasion and >takeover. In other words, it's never easy to predict the outcome of a >change or an action. But I find it always interesting, like some find >the weather to be. Maybe, however, it's all just distraction and Babel. > >- Ricky > > >On Jan 22, 2010, at 9:33 AM, Glenn moyer <glen...@earthlink.net> wrote: > >> Well it's official now, corporatocracy. Those who study >> totalitarian shifts point out that once the "point of no return" is >> crossed, things move rapidly. Being an optimist by nature, I had >> been holding on to hope. >> >> Those who only get information through corporate media probably >> didn't know that this was coming to the corporate court. This was >> the big one! >> >> >> http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20100122_Justices_shift_campaign-finance_rules.html >> >> >> http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/americandebate/Nary_a_peep_of_protest.html >> ---- >> You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the >> list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see >> <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. >---- >You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the >list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see ><http://www.purple.com/list.html>. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.