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Right Next to the NIMBYs
Regarding Matt Edens commentary “Wall to Wall Sprawl,” I would like to thank Matt for pointing out that the separation of uses, which is directly the fault of our zoning laws and so-called “planning commissions,” where typically 9 of 10 members do not have educational training in city planning (go figure) have caused the “American Dream—the sleepwalking version,” as Mr. Kunstler says, to edge ever closer to self-destruction.
People who think density and mixed-use development is the root of all evil have become this way because of anti-social behaviors that have infected our society. “Good fences make good neighbors.” “I want 20 acres in the middle of the woods so I can piss off of my back porch and shoot my .22.” “My new subdivision has a security gate to keep the world out.” “Look how close those houses are to each other, I could never live there.” These are some of the things I hear that seem to reinforce those anti-social tendencies that are causing more development farther and farther out of town.
West Knoxville and other areas of our “Parking Lot Nation” will have a rude awakening one day because I feel it is past the point of no-return.
Twenty-five years of sprawl will not be undone, and all the poor souls who have to hop in their cars to go shop in the latest trendy strip mall and then hop in again to drive across the street to Starbucks will continue to make the West Knoxville traffic nightmare the norm.
Let’s hope that those townhouses, stores and offices get built right next door to the NIMBYs.
John Wallace
Maryville
Forgotten by KAT
This is in response to Mark Hairr’s [Sept. 16] letter. KAT seems to have forgotten about the needs of the residents at Summit Tower. Many of those who reside here are elderly or otherwise disabled.
First, we lost the service of the Blue Line Trolley; now we have lost the closeness to our transfer point. Many of the folks here are unable to walk in the hot sun all the way to the new transfer point.
The only reason that there have not been more complaints submitted is because of a sense of resignation on the parts of our residents.
J. M. White
Knoxville
Why George Must Go
George Bush should not be re-elected for a very simple reason.
No democracy can be effectively led by a man who lies about nearly everything to its citizens.
Paragraphs could be written about each of the lies. He lied about his service in the National Guard. He lied about his use of alcohol and drugs. He lied about his highly questionable business activities that left him wealthy and others holding the bag. He lied in pushing a “Clean Skies Initiative” that is designed to benefit business interests by rolling back air pollution controls already mandated by law. He lied when he laid the blame for electrical shortages in California on the state government, when his friends at Enron and elsewhere were energetically manipulating the market. He lies when he says that his administration was focused on terrorism before 9/11. He lies when he claims to support an assault weapons ban and does nothing to counter the lobbying of the NRA. And he lies when “a few bad apples” are blamed for torture at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in the secret prison system run by the CIA and military intelligence, when the abuses being reported are clearly derived from “tradecraft” previously reserved for special guests of the CIA and other intelligence agencies.
As for taxes and the economy, Bush lied when he described the tax cuts as benefiting the average citizen, while targeting them overwhelmingly to his rich friends and supporters. He lied when he told us that his tax cuts would not produce unsustainable deficits.
He lies when he says he has a plan to reduce the deficit and then quotes numbers that assume defeat of his own proposals to make temporary tax cuts permanent. He lies when he includes Social Security and Medicare taxes in general tax revenues when discussing deficits, but excludes them when discussing the beneficiaries of his tax cuts. He lies when discussing the viability of Social Security and Medicare and proposing “reforms” that have the effect of socializing risk and privatizing profits in the health care industry, while reducing benefits to everyone and especially the working poor.
But the biggest and most damaging lies deal with the war in Iraq. We were told that we went to war because Iraq had chemical and biological weapons and active programs to develop nuclear weapons and advanced delivery systems, and that we knew where these activities were being carried out. Moreover, Saddam Hussein was repeatedly linked to the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon and was said to be supporting international terrorists. None of this was true, and most of it was known to be untrue, or at least highly doubtful, before the war. We are now told that we attacked Iraq because Saddam was a brutal dictator, but this sadly must be untrue because Saddam received U.S. support when he was already known to be a brutal dictator; and we actively support other dictators who are friendly to U.S. interests. Finally, and also sadly, he lies when he claims all is going well in the war and that Iraq is on the way to freedom and democracy, when his own intelligence estimates indicate that these goals are probably now beyond reach.
It is now clear from the writings and speeches of administration insiders and from reports of observers of the decision-making process that all of the “reasons for war” were mostly propaganda to justify the war to the public. The real reason we went to war is that the president’s closest advisors and a group of neo-conservative ideologues convinced him that it was in America’s interest as the world’s only superpower to conquer Iraq as a means of remaking the Middle East to our liking and assuring access to its oil. Those goals obviously had strong support from the oil industry, from believers in American Empire, and from friends of Israel, but they were never presented to the American people so that the rest of us could judge their legitimacy.
Some will argue that some of the above examples are not lies but merely political spin. Whatever they are called, the intent is to mislead us about the real intent of proposed government policies, and who will benefit if they are implemented. It is abundantly clear that a democracy cannot operate effectively when its leaders operate in secret and don’t tell the truth about their motivations and what they are trying to accomplish. We must not be reduced to the status of the citizens of the USSR who spent their lives listening to the party line and trying to guess what was really going on behind the façade. If we value the principles that America has embodied at its best, then George must go!
Tom Callcott
Knoxville
Back the Good Bush
I hope the newspaper will focus on the good George Bush has done and will continue to do for this great nation and support him as our President and Commander-in-Chief.
I hope the paper will maintain its integrity and not lower itself to the standards of other news organizations and report stories which could be negative without first checking its sources and thinking of this great nation.
Please support George W. Bush, our troops and our great nation.
J. Captain
Powell
September 23, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 39
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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