The Third Depression
In my humble opinion, Paul Krugman nails it in his New York Times column yesterday today. We’re in for some tough economic times, and those who proclaim that we are seeing the “green shoots” of recovery in the U.S. economy are sadly mistaken.
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The Third Depression
by Paul Krugman
New York Times, June 27, 2010Recessions are common; depressions are rare. As far as I can tell, there were only two eras in economic history that were widely described as “depressions” at the time: the years of deflation and instability that followed the Panic of 1873 and the years of mass unemployment that followed the financial crisis of 1929-31.
Neither the Long Depression of the 19th century nor the Great Depression of the 20th was an era of nonstop decline — on the contrary, both included periods when the economy grew. But these episodes of improvement were never enough to undo the damage from the initial slump, and were followed by relapses.
We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.
Click here to read the entire column
For another view of our nation’s economy, see “Say What?” by James Howard Kuntsler.
Monday, June 28th, 2010On the sidewalks of Montford
Last Saturday I participated in the Asheville Z-Link effort to clear and clean sidewalks in Asheville, a project led by City Council member Cecil Bothwell. From the Asheville Z-Link blog:
Some of Asheville’s neighborhoods have wonderful sidewalks. Older areas, developed in the heyday of Asheville’s trolley system, were designed with walkers in mind. In the new era of raised environmental awareness, a national childhood asthma epidemic and expensive gasoline, more and more of us are rethinking our local travel options. Walking and biking are obvious choices.
A common problem with older sidewalks is that poor maintenance has resulted in accumulation of dirt and debris, followed by weeds and exacerbated by the encroachment of shrubs. The City sidewalk ordinance requires that property owners keep public sidewalks across their property clear, but enforcement is a low priority and there are some folks who are physically unable to perform the work. Then too, vacant lots often go untended for years. There are many places where perfectly good walks extend for blocks, only to be obstructed in one short section, rendering them impassable for wheel chairs, baby strollers or those with ambulatory disabilities.
The video below shows how you can join in.
Also be sure to visit the Asheville Z-Link blog for more information.
Local political and religious leaders who use the Bible to justify condemnation of gays may want to reconsider
Some political and religious leaders in our community have turned to selected passages from the Bible as moral justification for their intolerance of gays, most frequently quoting Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination.” But if you’re going to take the Good Book literally, doesn’t that mean you have to also condone slavery (Exodus 21:7) and stoning anyone who works on the Sabbath (Exodus 35:2 )?
Watch this clip from the NBC series “West Wing” as President Jed Bartlett asks a homophobic radio talk show host these questions and more.
President Bartlett: I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important because we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you?
How Cecil Won: The Shifting Political Landscape in Asheville
Last Tuesday I watched as Cecil Bothwell took his place on the Asheville (NC) City Council along with the other newly-elected members, Gordon Smith and Esther Manheimer. Nowhere present was H.K. Edgerton, the man who’d outspokenly
opposed the seating of Bothwell, because as Edgerton sees it, the new councilperson didn’t profess the proper religious beliefs.
Frankly, one of the reasons I strongly supported Cecil for City Council is the fact that he refuses to engage in disingenuous piety and sanctimonious nostrums for political advantage as so many seem willing to do. Besides, isn’t Edgerton, the former president of the local branch of the NAACP, something of a comic (some might say tragic) figure—a black man all dressed up in Confederate regalia with no place to go?
Anyway, Cecil’s affirmation of office took place without a hitch, and a raucous cheer went up from the assembly of supporters in council chambers. An historic moment in Asheville history was taking place before our eyes: The political power of the old Courthouse Gang (and the privileged, middle-aged white men they typically handpicked as candidates) was waning. In fact, none of the two council candidates they’d supported even came close to being elected. Out of the ashes, a new political reality was being born. Capitalizing on grassroots organizing, innovative use of the Internet and other lessons from the 2008 Obama campaign, empowered citizens chose the three most progressive candidates in the race.
Why Cecil won
The major reason Cecil won was because of his own tireless efforts. For all practical purposes, he’d been campaigning for the better part of two years, first for Buncombe County Board of Commissioners in 2008 (losing out by a miniscule margin), then for Asheville City Council this year. For more than six months during the campaign for city council, he went to meetings, gave speeches, participated in forums, knocked on doors, made phone calls, spoke with citizens one-on-one
and in small groups, rallied the volunteers, hosted strategy sessions, wrote newsletters and blog posts and much, much more. I’ve never seen a more intense and resolute effort by a local candidate.
There were those who spread rumors about Cecil and his supposed motives for running for council. The camp of one candidate told everyone who’d listen that Cecil was not a team player. In the comments section of some local blogs and websites, some accused Cecil of being egotistical and self-absorbed. However, anyone who really knows Cecil understood that these charges were merely attempts to sabotage his candidacy.
Let’s face it: how could someone who wasn’t a genuine team player attract several hundred passionate and committed volunteers to canvass, call, cook, write, distribute yard signs, work at the polling places, etc. week after week? How could a candidate who knocked on countless doors himself, made phone calls too numerous to count, constructed his own yard signs, created campaign buttons in his living room and made campaign decisions by consensus be regarded as anything but unpretentious and egalitarian? Highly intelligent? Absolutely. Self confident? Most assuredly. Visionary? No question about it. Self-important or arrogant? Not a chance.
John Huie speaks
John Huie, legendary leader of the North Carolina Outward Bound School (mid-1970s to mid-1990s) and former executive director of the Environmental Leadership Center at Warren Wilson College, powerfully expressed his reasons for supporting Cecil in an October 26 letter to the Asheville Citizen-Times:
During the 25 years Cecil Bothwell has lived in our community, he has been fearless in taking stands, some of which were unpopular at the time.
Cecil organized opposition to the Iraq War even before it began. He challenged the city’s law against panhandling as unconstitutional infringement on free speech. He helped block construction of the Grove Park Inn high-rise on City/County Plaza. And he put his life at risk investigating and reporting on the criminal activity of Sheriff Bobby Lee Medford, helping bring the former sheriff to justice.
I know Cecil Bothwell to be a person of integrity, one who cares profoundly about our society and about the democracy we all claim to cherish. I know of Cecil’s tireless efforts among those who are poor, imprisoned, homeless, and without hope. This is a man of clear vision, compassionate outlook, and a passion for social justice. He is a man who not only talks and writes about democracy and the loving community but also works and sweats in a myriad of creative ways to make the words flesh.
We have a name for the Cecil Bothwells of the world: we call them citizens.
Putting the new politics to work
Following the Asheville primary on October 6, in which Cecil, Gordon and Esther finished 1, 2 and 3, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Citizen-Times (10/19/09) about the outcome and how it was achieved. I think it still expresses the shift that has occurred in our local politics.
In times past, many seeking elected office seemed to be trying to sell us something, as if we, the citizens, were merely compliant consumers. Conventional political wisdom called for candidates to appear affable and knowledgeable while uttering vague generalities, to craft a clever and alluring message and to broadcast that message to the masses, all in the hope that we would buy what they were selling. Well, thankfully those days are behind us.
The arrival of a new era in Asheville politics was clearly demonstrated by the victories attained by Cecil Bothwell and Gordon Smith in the city council primary on October 6. These wins were built on hard and smart work by both candidates, sizeable teams of deeply committed volunteers and the grassroots organizing skills many of them gained working in Obama’s 2008 campaign.
It is apparent that ordinary citizens now realize the power they possess and are using it to excellent advantage to elect authentic leaders—leaders who understand the needs of working people, leaders who will be honest and transparent, leaders who will involve us in the decision-making process on matters that directly affect us, leaders who will remember how they got into office once elected.
The swiftboaters misfire . . . and sink out of sight
Then, of course, there was the pathetic and futile effort by Chris Peterson, Cecil Cantrell and their Common Sense in Government PAC to smear Cecil and brand him as Satan’s helper. This inept swiftboating scheme with its primitive and ill-conceived mailers resembled something that might have been created by high school kids in the 1970s.
In his October 30 letter to the Citizen-Times, Tebbe Davis did an excellent job of deconstructing Peterson and Cantrell’s smear campaign:
It appears elements of the conservative right are up to their usual tricks in this year’s city election. Fliers attacking City Council candidate Cecil Bothwell recently were sent through the mail to local voters by a group working under the name “Common Sense in Government.” I did a little research and found that the organization is headed by Chris Peterson, a video poker machine operator when Bobby Medford was Buncombe County sheriff, and Cecil Cantrell, a supporter of Medford’s.
It’s useful to remember that it was Bothwell’s investigative reporting that helped bring Medford to justice and put him behind bars for 15 years for extortion, money laundering and conspiracy related to illegal video poker machine businesses. Coincidence? Perhaps, but in a small city like this I doubt it.
Furthermore, Cantrell has been deeply involved in the “swiftboating” of progressive candidates in previous city elections. Let’s show these dirty tricksters that such outdated and irresponsible techniques are best dumped in the dustbin of history. Let’s go to the polls and elect Cecil Bothwell and other progressive candidates, leaders who will help move our community forward during these challenging times.
Old and stale political scare tactics are not going to work here.
Records at the Buncombe County Board of Elections show that Peterson, Cantrell and others actually spent several thousand dollars during the campaign, but this time Asheville voters weren’t falling for their duplicity. Despite the time, money and energy expended, the ill-fated PAC failed to affect the outcome of the election in any way.
Going forward
I’ve said this before, but I think it bears repeating. As the people’s representative on Asheville City Council, I believe Cecil will consistently and courageously take a stand for:
- the rights of every citizen regardless of sexual orientation, ethnic origin, socio-economic status, political belief, religious/spiritual faith or lifestyle,
- the health of our planet and all its inhabitants and
- the creation of a community that works for all of us.
Furthermore, I believe Cecil will provide leadership that is principled, effective, accountable, transparent, inclusive and predicated on citizen participation. He will work with us and his fellow council members to create a truly sustainable community, including smart growth, protection of our city’s natural beauty, green jobs and action to help curb climate change.
Perhaps most importantly, Cecil is one of us—someone who lives among us, someone who understands our wants and needs, someone who will readily hear us when we speak.
But it’s not just up to our elected leaders to take the actions required in these challenging times; it’s up to us too. Let’s get behind Cecil, Gordon, Esther, Brownie, Jan, Bill and Terry and help create the Asheville we want to see.
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Trying to sustain an unsustainable culture
Our nation and our so-called leaders are paying scant attention, but in every moment, Reality is teaching the lesson of the day: We cannot sustain a culture that’s unsustainable. So the consensus trance prevails as we continue to disregard the magnitude of our challenges and futilely search for illusive signs of the much-anticipated economic recovery that lives only in our dreams.
I’ll have more to say about this topic in the weeks and months to come, but for now hear the words of James Howard Kuntsler:
What’s going on in the US economy is a slow-motion convulsion from which we will emerge as a very different nation with a different economy. The wild irresponsibility of the media in pretending otherwise is only going to make the convulsion worse, more painful, more socially and politically destructive. The convulsion can be described with precision as one of compressive contraction. Historic circumstances are requiring us to change our behavior, to make new arrangements for everyday life in all the major particulars: capital accumulation and deployment; food production; commerce; habitation; transport; education; and health care. These new arrangements must be organized at a smaller and finer scale, and on a much more local basis.
[ . . . ]
If we don’t attend to the transformation of American life by downscaling our activities and changing the way they are carried out, and re-localizing them, we will see our society disintegrate - and I use the word “dis-integrate” with purposeful precision. Everything will come apart - our political arrangements, our households, our health and well-being.
You can read the entire essay by visiting Kuntsler’s blog, but if you’re offended by the F-word, then I suggest you satisfy yourself with Kuntsler’s thoughts contained in this post. And though this is way off topic, if you’re interested in the many uses of that controversial word–as a verb, adverb, adjective, command, conjunction, exclamatory, noun and pronoun–click here for a thorough explanation by Tom Wolfe in his novel I am Charlotte Simmons, a book that Shonnie and I just finished listening to.
Monday, November 23rd, 2009Speak out about Horizon Urban Village project!
Tonight the Asheville City Council takes up a request from Horizon Urban Village project for a 12-month extension on the Urban Village rezoning that is currently in process. Below is the message regarding this matter that I sent to Council this morning. If you are so inclined, I urge you to send a similar message today to all Council members at AshevilleNCCouncil@ashevillenc.gov.
Thanks for your consideration of my request. You are invited to send this along to your friends who might have concerns about this project.
I wish you well.
Bruce
Dear Mayor Bellamy and City Council members:
I am writing about the Horizon Urban Village project request for a 12-month extension on the Urban Village rezoning that is currently in process.
First of all, I oppose this project since, if completed, it would be excessively out of scale to other buildings in that part of our city. In addition, it would block sunlight from a number of residences in that area. Moreover, it would create an even more challenging traffic situation than currently exists in that vicinity.
Secondly, I see no reason why this project should be given an extension by what is essentially a “lame duck” Council. If this matter is to be taken up, I strongly suggest deferring action until the newly-elected Council members take office.
Finally, though this may have no bearing on your decision, I think it should be noted that Chris Peterson, one of the principals of the Horizon Urban Village project, was deeply involved in a smear campaign against two incoming Council members. Ineffective and amateurish though it may have been, I don’t believe such disrespectful behavior should be rewarded.
Thank you for taking the time to read and, hopefully, consider my concerns.
Respectfully,
Bruce Mulkey
16 Spears Avenue, #19
Asheville, NC 28801
City Council candidates answer questions “yes” or “no”
Folks running for political office frequently prefer to offer at least two answers to every question. At their candidate forum on September 15, People Advocating Real Conservancy (PARC) decided to ask candidates “yes” or “no” questions about local land use issues that have already been debated at length in our community.
Below is the Candidate Scorecard from the forum. You will notice that Cecil Bothwell was the only candidate participating who offered a “yes” or “no” answer on every question. In addition, Cecil was also the only candidate who said “yes” to #7–taking back our park land from Stewart Coleman by Eminent Domain and #10–creating a green space on city land in front of the Basilica.
You may watch the video version of the questions by clicking the links below:
Click HERE for questions 1, 2 and 3.
Click HERE for questions 4 and 5.
Click HERE for questions 6 and 7.
Click HERE for questions 8 and 9.
You may also wish to check out City Council candidates’ responses to the WNC for Change questionnaire by clicking here.
Remember to vote in the city primary election this Tuesday, October 6 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at your precinct polling place.
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009Bob Dylan–The Times They Are A-Changin’
A Bob Dylan song from the ’60s that’s highly relevant for our times. Lyrics below the video.
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.
Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
