hope for earthlings

There might be another habitable planet in the known universe. It’s only 120 trillion miles away…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_sc/habitable_planet

“france: love it or leave it”

That was the campaign motto of Jean-Marie Le Pen, an old-guard anti-immigrant presidential candidate, running in today’s first round of the French presidential election. He lost coming in fourth place.

Like the soon to be exiting French president, Jacques Chirac, Le Pen was the only one of the four major candidates with any memory of WWII. As happened in the US with Bill Clinton and in the UK with Tony Blair, a changing of the guards is about to occur in France. In addition – as might soon be replicated in the US – the winner may be the first woman in French history.

The two candidates who will advance to the next round, to be held in two weeks, are the socialist – you can have your cake and eat it too – Segolene Royal and the more conservative (moderate by American standards) Nicolas Sarkozy. Royal believes that the best way to solve the problems of France is by taxing and spending more. Sarkozy, in stark contrast, believes that the biggest problem in France is a lack of incentives and rewards for work through stifling levels of regulation and taxation.

Whichever candidate wins, they will soon be dealing with problems that are arguably of an even greater difficulty than the next American president will be faced with in terms of both economic and immigration reform. Immigration in France is not the kind of problem that it is in America. In the U.S., whatever side of the debate you are on, you know that most likely very little will be done to prevent illegal immigration, or to give those who are already here any more rights and benefits. The American immigrant continues to live on the margins of society, and American employers love to keep them coming to depress wages, and there are no riots in the streets.

By contrast, in France, racism, economic inequality, and religious hatred between whites and African muslims has unleashed violence, in the last few years, that we have yet to witness from immigrant populations in the U.S. The next French president will have to seek a path of culturally and economically bringing muslims into the mainstream of French culture. Like America in 25 years, France will no longer be a majority white country. If change does not begin now more divisions and more violence will ensue. White France, like white America, will soon be a minority – living without ethnic privilege – in a multi-cultural world

I have been meaning to write a eulogy for some time for the French sociologist/philosopher Jean Baudrillard, once called the “high-priest of post-modernism”, who died last month at the age of 77. Rather than tell you more about him and his work, I will leave you with a masterfully written piece from the French riots of 2005. A writing that may well prove to be prophetic…

http://newleftreview.org/A2595

next american cities

Denver, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, Dallas, Las Vegas, Raliegh, and Charlotte are the regions where the largest growth in industry is occuring in America today. As much as I love the concept of the “creative class”which touts the idea that culturally liberal/high population-density/19th century American cities will prosper the most in the future – because of their ability to attract the most innovative people – on the whole, the numbers don’t seem to show that.

In my humble opinion, Boston, NYC, San Francisco, and Chicago, are all either growing at a very slow rate or are losing jobs because of high taxes to provide social services – for those who suburban communities refuse to care for – and because of the lack of affordable housing due to zoning regulations and anti-development interests within older cities.

In addition, these cities only attract a small demographic group of people who actually want to live there (meaning that I am not speaking of the inner-city poor, recent immigrants, or the elderly). This small demographic group consists of young singles, gays, artists, and a small contingent of baby boomers choosing to downsize and enjoy the amenities of urban life. This group comprises only 10-15% of the American population. Older American cities do not attract married people with children, single mothers, and most baby boomers. This group is the 85-90% of the population – that polls show – do not want to live in 19th century cities. Part of that is based upon American cultural ideas that old cities are violent, inhumane, inconvenient, and that children, ideally, should not be living in cities. But even more importantly, it is based on the lack of affordable housing.

Let’s do the math. Suppose a family of four is willing to live in a city in a home that is 1,000 square feet, rather than live in a suburban home of 2,000 square feet. Assume that the house in the city sells at $800 a square foot (as they do in San Francisco and Boston) they will be paying $800,00. In contrast, if this family of four bought a 2,000 square foot home in Portland or Charlotte at $250 a square foot they are only paying $500,000! And that number is still a couple of hundred thousand dollars above the national median home price.

Now you may reply that land is more scarce, and is therefore more desirable, in cities, and is therefore worth more. Four to five times more? That’s a question that none of us can truly answer, because we have lived all of our lives in a world of exclusionary zoning practices and NIMBYism that distorts market prices. Will this change as the environmental impetus seeks to enable more growth to occur in already urbanized areas? Only time will tell.

http://www.citiesonahill.org/columns/2006/11/the_creative_class_canard.html

pops goes ivy

After a life spent as a good ol’ Okie boy, dad was accepted into a six-week continuing education program at Harvard yesterday. (Not to worry though, a Republican he proudly remains). The program is for seasoned real estate professionals looking to broaden their knowledge of all of the various facets of the profession. If you are going to be in the Boston area this summer give him a call! You can read a description of the program by following the link below:

http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/professional/exec_ed/admissions_programs/amdp/

the green prince

Prince Charles after receiving the Global Environmental Citizen Award at the Harvard Club, in Manhattan, January 28, 2007. Stephen Chernin/EPA/Corbis.

 

Intresting article on Prince Charles’s environmental efforts below. After a long history of championing the rebirth of traditional town planning in the U.K., he has moved onto initiatives that seek to combat global warming by raising awareness about how much  carbon we all use in our daily lives.

 

Charles has a very simple but potentially powerful idea: consumer products with labels that tell how much carbon was used to produce that product. This then enables you, the consumer, to choose whether or not you want to buy that product or not. This is a great free-market based approach that empowers consumers, but doesn’t unleash the sort of worry and righteous indignation that occurs when one mentions less popular remedies for global warming- such as carbon taxes.

 

Politically he may just be a figurehead, but positive  leadership can accomplish much in helping people to remember that they can help the environment by making changes in their day to day lives.

 

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/05/princecharles200705

 

 

 

 

a mighty big river

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martin Strel just swam the entire Amazon River. Wow! It’s hard to do anything physically impressive anymore; Everest, K2, walking on the moon…it’s all been done, but I found this one impressive. Well done Mr. Strel.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/07/international/i174321D92.DTL&hw=man+swims+amazon&sn=002&sc=728

women and walking

“Do women prefer walkable communities? Based on this National Geographic map outlining concentrations of single women and single men, I’d venture to say yes.

It’s apparent on the map that men prefer to locate in cities built in the post-1940s auto-oriented era, while women prefer the more walkable, pre-1940s neighborhoods. It should be no surprise, given the studies that document what women prefer in their neighborhoods and what attributes make for a safe city (see findings at links). So, while the evidence isn’t new, presenting it on a single infographic is.

What does it all mean? It’s not so much that single men prefer auto-oriented development (there is no evidence supporting such, only the opposite), it’s just that women really prefer walkability, safety and convenience. Thankfully, we’re evolving toward the latter. As they say, the easiest way to attract single men is with single women, not vice versa.”

http://creativeclass.typepad.com/thecreativityexchange/2007/04/the_singles_map.html

(I don’t necessarily accept the conclusion here, but the data is very interesting. There may be a lot of other historical and demographic reasons for this disproportionate allocation of single men to the West and women to the Eastern U.S.)…

hallelujah

 
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah…

-Leonard Cohen

are you kidding?

 

Apparently all of those Hollywood liberals just can’t help themselves from making reactionary blockbusters. Vapid wastes of film – filled with a paranoia reminiscent of McCarthyism, massive terrorist attacks, paramilitarism, suspension of civil liberties…and Bruce Willis’s ugly mug. Welcome to Die Hard 5,556,432.

 http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808403725/info

lawyerin’

After visiting three law schools last week (McGeorge, Hastings, and USF), I have decided to pursue a career in law.

Just kidding. Actually, Anna has decided to attend the University of San Francisco Law School this coming fall. As you can see above, it is quite a beautiful school. Congratulations Anna!

http://www.usfca.edu/law/