"Righter Shade Of Green"

One of the best articles I have read on why conservatives should be environmentalists...it boils down the basis of true conservatism vs. neoconservatives... society is a contract with the living and the dead and those yet to be born.

Righter Shade of Green:
A Righter Shade of Green
While the Left pursues environmentalism to advance its global agenda, conservation is best entrusted to local stewardship.
by Roger Scruton

Conservatism is about preserving intrinsically valuable things—economic capital, social capital, and natural capital. I use the word “capital” deliberately, for its opponents say that conservatism is nothing but the apologetics of capitalism. That is absolutely right—provided you understand that capital embraces many things that are not translatable into economic terms.

So why have conservatives been so slow to capture the environmental cause and the agenda that has been built around it? And why have their opponents been so eager to prevent them?

First, the damage done to our environment is connected in many people’s thinking, and to a great extent in reality, with the activities of business. You don’t do damage if you are not interested in changing things, and the usual reason people change things is to make a profit. And undoubtedly some of the big players in various markets that impact the environment have been extremely unscrupulous—even if their profits usually depend on their ability to meet demands made by the rest of us.
.......
It is here that I think we Anglophone conservatives can show our relevance. The common law of England developed, through the branch known as equity, a concept that has no real equivalent in Napoleonic or Roman legal systems: the concept of the trust. Trusteeship is a form of property in which the legal owner has only duties, and all rights are transferred to, and “held in trust for,” the beneficiary. Through the device of the trust, English and American law has been able to protect the interests of absent generations by compelling the current owners of property to set their own interests aside. The trustees of a bequest must respect the wishes of the testator and in so doing—by holding their own desires and present emergencies in abeyance— will serve the interests of future generations. This form of ownership, and the moral idea contained in it, ought to be regarded as defining the conservative approach. We don’t solve environmental problems by abandoning our attachment to private property or free enterprise, but we can make sure that these notions are shaped by the spirit of trusteeship.

---

Going To the Horse's Mouth

The Daily News published this article about negotiations between the city and forest city ratner over the 421 carve out:
Under pressure from the city, developer Forest City Ratner's sweetheart tax break is getting scaled back by state lawmakers, the Daily News has learned.

Officials yesterday agreed to reduce to 15 years the length of time Bruce Ratner is exempt from paying property taxes on 1,900 market-rate condos slated for the Atlantic Yards project, a tweak that could save the city $100 million.

Until now, Ratner was poised to gain heavily from a 25-year state property tax exemption inserted in a housing bill last year by Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Bushwick) that would have netted an estimated $300 million, according to experts.

"As far as we're concerned, the issue has been resolved," said Forest City Ratner spokesman Loren Riegelhaupt.

City officials threatened Monday to yank $105 million in subsidies earmarked for Atlantic Yards infrastructure needs unless portions of the so-called 421A housing reform bill involving Forest City Ratner were heavily revised.

It was unclear whether that threat was still on the table.

In particular, officials took issue with the $300 million tax break and another exemption that would allow middle-income tenants to be eligible for 2,500 units of housing once anticipated for low-income tenants.

A Bloomberg spokesman declined to discuss details of the negotiations but said Forest City Ratner and city officials had hammered out an agreement this week.

---

Note the last line:

A Bloomberg spokesman declined to discuss details of the negotiations but said Forest City Ratner and city officials had hammered out an agreement this week.

Since when is Forest City deciding what a tax break should be? Why negations with Forest City and not the state - the Daily News, perhaps unwhittingly has pointed out the massive corruption & influence of Forest City, perhaps the city, wishing to save time, went to the horse's mouth.

In addition - Ratner will be not paying 200 milllion property taxes to the city YET, they cityis giving him 2-3 hundred million - so how is the city 'saving' anything?

Why is the city, a publically accountable instution, refusing to discuss the details with the pubic? What is going on here?

This article is very telling for two reasons: first, as noted, it points to the massive corruption and influnce of Forest City - second, it shows just how much it's accepted.

Steve Sailer on Harry Potter:

No, I don't read the books but I am glad to see kids reading, and the ones dressing up and waiting online looked like they were having a ball without drugs so what's not to like?Sailer Writes:

A Story of Race and Inheritance? Dana Goldstein at the American Prospect is irked that the Harry Potter books (not to mention Lord of the Rings) are full of sexism, racism, and hereditism:

Harry Potter and the Complicated Identity Politics

J.K. Rowling subtly critiques, yet ultimately hews to, a fantasy script dependent on stereotypes culled from real-life racism.

Gosh, I'm so astonished that the most popular children's literary work of our time reflects deep human archetypes about sex, family, and inheritance. I can't imagine why feminist ideology hasn't been able to produce anything remotely as appealing to kids. It must be society's fault. If only feminists and multiculturalists were given more control over the education system, children's interests could be social-engineered into perfection!

---

:)

Atlantic Yards, Baghdad.

Perhaps our so called elite realize they are so increasingly out of touch with 'the people' that the new architecture- knowingly agoraphobic and standoffish - is an attempt to grab as much as possible, and have a quick way to close the gates before all hell breaks loose. That is certainly the mentality of Bruce Ratner in Brooklyn - consistently he does as much as he can to carve out a chunk of territory and make sure there's no public access...and it seems with our embassy in Baghdad- what kind of country has to build an embassy like this...as a Guardian Blog writes:
Diplomacy has no place in this monstrous bunker

We know that's case in for this monstrous bunker too:



Pat B. makes the point:

There they built the great castle that was overrun by Saladin in 1187, but retaken by Richard the Lion-Hearted in 1191. Acre became the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the stronghold of the Crusader state, which fell to the Mameluks in a bloody siege in 1291. The Christians left behind were massacred.
The ruins of Acre are now a tourist attraction.
Any who have visited this last outpost of Christendom in the Holy Land before Gen. Allenby marched into Jerusalem in 1917 cannot – on reading of the massive U.S. embassy rising in Baghdad – but think of Acre


And I might add that the usual swan song of big corporations and empires is a monstrous, impractical out of scale building (Versailles, sears tower).

If AY means the the end of Bruce Ratner and forest city perhaps its not such a bad sign.

George Bush: War Criminal, Traitor

Even Diane Feinstein is calling for the release of two border agents railroaded by George Bush's administration - long ago Bush crossed the line from imcomptentence to outright criminal behavior - this is yet another example - under Bush only 180 or so illegal immigrants working in here were proscecuted- even Clinton -hardly conservative - prosectued 20,000.

Likewise- Bush threw two agents in jail for essentially doing their jobs and in order to railroad them, gave immunity to a drug smuggler. What more evidence do you need to see the obvious- George Bush is a traitor who is intentionally trying to flood the country with illegal immigrants, in hope will that the massive demographic shift will make a North American Union inevidtible. Commuting Scooter LIbby's conviction, granting immunity to drug smugglers, ignoring the constitution and railroading border agents.....George Bush (after a fair trial, of course) should be shot for treason.

Dobbs: Time to free Ramos and Compean

* Story Highlights
* Senators chair hearing, imply U.S. attorney blatantly abused power
* Agents sentenced for shooting fleeing drug smuggler, alleged cover-up
* Illegal alien drug smuggler received immunity for testimony against agents

By Lou Dobbs
CNN

Lou Dobbs' commentary appears weekly on CNN.com.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There was an unusual spectacle in the nation's capital Tuesday, downright rare, in fact: U.S. Senators seeking truth, and justice, and taking action. And they deserve great credit and thanks.

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, led by Dianne Feinstein, focused on the reasons for the prosecution of two Border Patrol agents now serving long sentences in federal prison. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were given terms of 11 and 12 years respectively on their convictions for shooting an illegal alien drug smuggler

Carnage In Iraq

I find much Chris Hedge's often lacking credibility but even if half true this report is disturbing that it comes from Jame Bovar'd blog lends credibility:;

Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian have an excellent report in the new issue of Nation from interviews with 50 U.S. veterans on the carnage inflicted in Iraq.

Hedges, Al-Arian, and Nation deserve great credit for this report.

If the New York Times or the Washington Post had half as much gumption on this issue, Americans would be less deluded by Bush propaganda.

Here is an excerpt from the piece:

The killing of unarmed Iraqis was so common many of the troops said it became an accepted part of the daily landscape…. Several interviewees said that, on occasion, these killings were justified by framing innocents as terrorists, typically following incidents when American troops fired on crowds of unarmed Iraqis. The troops would detain those who survived, accusing them of being insurgents, and plant AK-47s next to the bodies of those they had killed to make it seem as if the civilian dead were combatants. “It would always be an AK because they have so many of these weapons lying around,” said Specialist Aoun. Cavalry scout Joe Hatcher, 26, of San Diego, said 9-millimeter handguns and even shovels–to make it look like the noncombatant was digging a hole to plant an IED–were used as well. “Every good cop carries a throwaway,” said Hatcher, who served with the Fourth Cavalry Regiment, First Squadron, in Ad Dawar, halfway between Tikrit and Samarra, from February 2004 to March 2005. “If you kill someone and they’re unarmed, you just drop one on ‘em.” Those who survived such shootings then found themselves imprisoned as accused insurgents

---

Why isn't mainstream media reporting this? Why are we on our way to attacking Iran?

Why Conservatives Should Be Environmentalists...

and oppose mega-corporations like Forest City....

I got some work to do ...but will post more about this later...

Better Dead Than Rude.

the "american conservative' (a publication enjoyed by an increasing number of liberals and regularly featuring authors like Phillip Weiss and James Kunstler...and even publishing articles about factory farming abuse!.... is one of the most innovative thought-provoking magazines today...MSM (main stream media) has become a tool for big corprations and big interests, which run counter to our basic, ancient anglo-saxon liberties. On the pages of the TAC (and interestingly enough to some extent, Mother Jones and The Nation) you see strong, reasoned, thoughtful analysis of current events. Last month John Derbyshire took on PC:
Better Dead Than Rude
Political correctness began as a reasonable adjustment of manners, but as an ideology, it corrupts language and dulls thought.

Cant, n. The expression or repetition of conventional, trite, or unconsidered ideas, opinions or sentiments; especially: the insincere use of pious phraseology

My household favors the brand of iced tea that has little believe-it-or-not factlets printed on the inside of the bottle caps. The other day, my son opened a bottle of this stuff, turned over the cap, and reading from it, asked the room: “What was the first human-made object to break the sound barrier?” Dad: “First what object?” Son (not very patient with this sort of thing): “The answer’s a whip.” Dad: “I know, but ... ‘human-made’? What happened to ‘man-made’?”

We all know what happened to it, of course. Political correctness—hereafter “PC”—happened to it. To say “manmade” would be wrong. Some female maker of whips somewhere might suffer hurt feelings.

This is the sensibility of our times. Since the late 1980s, when it first came to general attention and acquired a name, PC has been part of our lives. Those of us of a conservative temperament—those, I mean, who demand of any large social change that it be weighed in the scales of liberty, order, amenity, and reason, that it be justified—have been scoffing at, grumbling about, deploring, or excoriating PC for 20 years now, yet its sillier manifestations can still make us gasp.

Item: ‘Stone Age’ is no longer acceptable, joining the list of other words and terms deemed offensive in polite society. ‘Primitive’ also is considered, well, primitive by some. ‘All anthropologists would agree that the negative use of the terms “primitive” and “Stone Age” to describe tribal peoples has serious implications for their welfare,’ the British-based Association of Social Anthropologists said Tuesday. ‘Governments and other social groups have long used these ideas as a pretext of [sic] depriving such peoples of land and their resources.’

—Washington Times

We are all familiar with stories of this kind, laughed at around the office water cooler or retailed on TV late-show monologues. PC is now part of the landscape. We are, in fact, at a point where PC fatigue has set in. News items like this one are as likely to generate sighs of resignation as giggles. In that sense, PC has won. To those who still mind it, PC is now just another disagreeable feature of the environment, like bad weather. And of course, a great many people don’t mind it at all.

It's Not Conspiracy Theory:: NYT Endorses A North American Union...

as if to add injury to insult, in a July 4th Op-ed!
Steve Sailer analysizes it here:

The New York Times, The NAU, And The Burden Of Empire

By Steve Sailer
Published on the Fourth of July, a New York Times op-ed entitled "The Center Shouldn't Hold" by British author Andro Linklater largely slipped through under the radar. Apparently, the NYT felt that his prediction of a North American superstate would warm the patriotic hearts of Americans on Independence Day!
.....

---

Make no mistake about - big global corporations, and our so called elite, see the nation-state as a nusiance (companies like Forest City , I might add) and they are doing everything in their power to make that nusiance go away - mass immigration is one way to do that, basically ignoring the constitution and existing law is another which is what Bush has been doing.

Left/Right convergence..

From Antiwar.com:

               Sheehan's Rebellion
Cindy Sheehan to take on Nancy Pelosi: some advice for a would-be candidate by Justin Raimondo

I see that Cindy Sheehan is announcing a possible run against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Sheehan's angry that Pelosi has consistently resisted defunding the Iraq war and has staunchly stood against the impeach-Bush-and-Cheney tide sweeping the Democratic/antiwar netroots. Yet it seems, also, that she has had an ideological awakening:

"I was a lifelong Democrat only because the choices were limited. The Democrats are the party of slavery and were the party that started every war in the 20th century except the other Bush debacle. The Federal Reserve, permanent federal (and unconstitutional) income taxes, Japanese concentration camps and, not one, but two atom bombs dropped on the innocent citizens of Japan were brought to us via the Democrats. Don't tell me the Democrats are our 'Saviors,' because I am not buying it, especially after they bought and purchased more caskets and more devastating pain when they financed and co-facilitated more of George's abysmal occupation and they are allowing a melt down of our representative Republic by allowing the evils of the executive branch to continue unrestrained by their silent complicity."

---

Hmm she sounds an awful lot like, well me. What is really going on is a battle for the soul of the republic: on one side, well, us, on the other side a globalist elite who wants to eliminate our national borders and sovereignty. Is it any wonder that democrats and republican elite both support open borders, the iraq war and an aggresive middle east policy and of course the federal reserve.... :)

Hmm, Perhaps Frank Gehry IS the perfect architect for Bruce Ratner

I was watching "End of Suburbia" the other night and remebered that one man interviewed, James Kunstler was a harsh critic of the 'starchitects' whose work he correctly described as agrophobic and well, just plain gaudy....he has an 'eyesore of the month..which included some of 'genius' frank gehry's work:

Eyesore of the Month

October 2005

  
 The Peter B. Lewis Building for Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management. Architect: Frank Gehry. If your dog had a tumor like this the vets would just shake their heads and put him to sleep. The design follows the logic of cancer: invade and overwhelm the host organism. It's appropriate that this building houses the business school, because it aptly expresses the disfigurement of American economic practice in our time: banality meets pathology in a tragic duet.

REAL Noblesse Oblige....and a Reaction to Eminent Domain

While greedy billionaire liars like Bruce Ratner continue to raid the public funds under the guise of 'affordable housing" another story emerges down south.

My grandfather helped convince the state of Georgia to purchase Jekyll Island and turn part of it over to the state park. For years there was some measured development, but otherwise the island remained pristine....enter the age of the greedy developer....who wanted to build luxury condos on the Island and like Ratner 'lobbied' the state legislature there....who were threatening to use eminent domain to take land away from a family who had owned it since 1775. From an email I received:

"the Devendorf family put some hundreds of acres of pristine Georgia coastline into an untouchable nature preserve rather than sell it to developers who told them they would pay over $100, million dollars for the property. The eminent domain law was threatening to condemn it as undeveloped land which would be a Georgia resource so they made a nature preserve which goes to Georgia Preservation protection. It has been in their family since 1775. How about that for 1 upmanship? The doyenne of the family said when the developers told her it would be their honor and their privilege to develop this untouched stretch of Georgia coast, she knew immediately what had to be done. How about that for noblesse oblige? "

---

Almost unheard of in this age, is it not? Well, They may not have owned in since 1775, but there are some like minded folks with similar ideals on Pacific and Dean Streets.

But just how warped have our values become? A family who had owned a property prior to the American Revolution found out it could be taken from them at, to use Chuck Schumer's words 'the whim ' of a greedy developer.

Mayors New Congestion Ads Use Girl With Asthma

reminder: Atlantic Yards supporters booed when TIsch James mentioned a girl who died from asthma and that brooklyn had the worst rates in the country. Reminder two: Ratner's project will increase pollition causing asthma. Reminder three: Mike Bloomberg doesn't give a damn.

Congest ads tout breath of fresh air
Flyers link asthma to city air pollution
BY KATHLEEN LUCADAMO
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Posted Thursday, July 5th 2007, 4:00 AM

A picture of a girl clutching an asthma inhaler is being used to sell Mayor Bloomberg's controversial plan to charge motorists to enter much of Manhattan.

As the deadline looms to secure federal money to implement congestion pricing, Brooklyn and Queens are being blitzed today with heartrending flyers warning that if state lawmakers don't approve the plan by July 16, the city "will get nothing except more polluted."

The text next to the girl says, "She cannot hold her breath waiting for Albany to act."

The ad, which is being sent to 350,000 families, is being paid for by the Partnership for New York City, the plan's chief backer. The flyer says that "over 300,000 New York City kids have asthma - a disease made worse by air pollution and traffic congestion."

The goal of the print campaign is to "point out all the benefits" of congestion pricing and tell fellow supporters to make sure state representatives hear them, said Kathryn Wylde, the partnership's president.

Happy Fourth....It Didn't Come Easy

Let's not let "Patriot Acts" take it away Nationally...or "Housing, Jobs and Hoops" trump essential liberty locally. We live on some the of the hardest fought ground of the American Revolution, let's all resolve to let Forest City and their for hire officials know that it wasn't in vain.

George Bush Celeberates the Fourth...

by what else, an act of treason:

Bush amnesties Scooter Libby: Now, don't call it a "pardon," just as the late Senate immigration bill wasn't amnesty -- both Scooter and the illegals have to pay a fine! 

Here are a couple of blog items on Scooter:

Scooter Libby, Mob Lawyer
The Scooter Libby-Marc Rich Connection

The basic question remains: why was this guy allowed to have a high-ranking government job in the first place?

---

Mr. Sailer that's not a rhetorical question - the answer to it is so disturbing many don't even want to contemplate it.

ESDC/Forest City goes back on their word...

yet again. Apparently our safety is far from their minds as their hands are close to our pocket books from DDDB:

Investigation Not Complete, Demo Continues.

A statement by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), in a Metro NY article, raises a serious question :
Old Atlantic Yards concerns resurface
...ESDC spokesman A.J. Carter said the Dept. of Buildings hasn’t completed its collapse investigation...
Two months ago the northern parapet wall of the Ward Bakery building in the Atlantic Yards footprint mysteriously crashed 4 stories to the ground, crushing cars, littering the sidewalk and street with tons of debris, and evacuating the homeless shelter next door for most of the day. Luckily nobody was injured.

After the mysterious event the ESDC halted all demolitions by Forest City Ratner until a more stringent procedure was in place, and until an investigation into the dangerous event occurred. Specifically the ESDC issued this statement:
...We're thankful that no one was hurt and we recognize the need for the Atlantic Yards project to continue to progress safely, without causing disorder in the lives of residents in the surrounding neighborhoods.

To that end, the Empire State Development Corporation and developer Forest City Ratner have agreed that the developer will temporarily suspend all abatement and demolition activities until the City's Department of Buildings concludes its preliminary investigation or the City directs us otherwise...
But yesterday abatement towards demolition re-commenced on the Ward Bakery despite the fact that the collapse investigation and its findings have not been concluded. Why?

---

Because Ratner knows his project is unraveling and the faster he createss realities on the ground the faster he thinks the imporpriety and corruption will be water under the bridge.

Just Imagine What Discovery Would Reveal

So I come back from an unexpectedly internet free weekend (to be expected I suppose in place with 1908 plumbing) ...to find a flurry news items that reveal that Bruce Ratner is even (if possible) greedier and more corrupt than we thought.

From No Land Grab:
LAWSUIT FORCES DISCLOSURE OF ATLANTIC YARDS FINANCIAL PLANS INCLUDING RATNER BUSINESS PLAN

Data Show an Expensive and Risky Project with the Affordable Housing Most At Risk

The Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and Forest City Ratner Corporation (FCRC) provided 660 pages of financial data concerning the Atlantic Yards Development project to resolve a Freedom of Information lawsuit by Assembly Member James Brennan (D-Brooklyn) and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery. Mr. Brennan argued the case before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden with the assistance of Corey Shapiro of the law firm of Wolfson and Carroll. Mr. Brennan introduced legislation in 2006 with four other area Assemblymembers that would have limited the size of the project to 5.8 million square feet, while preserving the affordable housing.

---

Maybe it's just little 'ole naive me...but why does Spitzer's everything changed ESDC, and even the pre-everything changes ESDC purportedly concerned with the public good - only release such information under threat of lawsuit and a Freedom Of Information Act request? Since when are politicians and bureaucrats reluctant to reveal something that's good for the public? Just imagine, for a moment, if a simple FOIL can reveal this - if the lawsuits are granted discovery, my guess is that Boss Ratner's fat little fingers will be pressing away on the delete key while simulataneously looking for countries with no extradition agreement with the US.

NLG also reports the NYT is coming about against corruption not naming its business partner, however...which all leads me to the big, looming question. What is behind Forest City's undo influence? It seems its unlikely just a matter of some $2500.00 campaign contributions and a few lunches for state reps.....and that is the big, big question waiting to be answered - but first its time for MSM to finally start asking it.