tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70603872816959553782011-11-27T16:07:38.171-08:00A place for creating and discussing pragmatic, progressive solutions to the challenges of a changing world.Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.comBlogger951100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-80552148856363649142010-12-06T08:39:00.000-08:002010-12-06T08:42:21.299-08:00

So I read this article in the NY Times (and also in many other papers) about how a compromise was near to extend unemployment in exchange for extending tax cuts. This is part of th story of why we have huge deficits; we have an inability to make cuts or raise taxes and when the two parties say that they are ready to do either (i.e. make cuts or raise taxes), the other will not. So, now we do

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-54668473261075450082010-10-22T19:26:00.001-07:002010-10-22T19:26:39.822-07:00

http://www.fema.gov/pdf/plan/prepare/faatlist03_05.pdf1 document, all acronyms.

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-58688761278720554492010-10-18T10:15:00.001-07:002010-10-18T10:17:47.553-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/science/earth/18smog.html?th&emc=thThis article talks about charging vehicle owners for the cars they drive/pollution they cause. It is not that much; however, it would raise funds to invest in pollution control technologies. My question then is: is something like this conservative or liberal? This is very much a "personal responsibility" way to deal with a

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-48863319853598556202010-10-13T14:25:00.001-07:002010-10-13T14:43:29.088-07:00

Lately I have been working with a lot of people on the role of public participation in planning, specifically hazard mitigation planning. Many people say little can be accomplished toward any specific planning objective through public participation. As it is done now, I have to agree. Public participation programs often suffer from a lack of clear objectives, roles, and methods of measuring

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-86659186645883443322010-09-06T09:45:00.000-07:002010-09-06T09:56:05.362-07:00

As I read another article about the housing market (this time that some people say it should collapse), I wonder this: why are all the solutions so blasted uncreative? For example, an 8k tax credit was NEVER going to do more than encourage people to buy sooner rather than later (as opposed to inducing buyers to buy rather than rent).What I wonder is what would happen if the government (who

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-69703185788445704902010-06-27T13:27:00.001-07:002010-06-27T13:28:29.909-07:00

Microsoft Tech Support was fun today. My phone was off, so I started communicating with the guy on the other line via the "Notepad" application on my desktop. We had a nice conversations. Here it is:ME: If you called, could you call again? My phone was off :P. Thanks. It looks like things are good now, though....HIM: yes... i will call u in other 5 minutes... okie... :)Sounds great!thank you

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-84062203455231863572010-06-05T08:59:00.000-07:002010-06-05T09:03:31.182-07:00

Apparently something like this:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/04/AR2010060404934.htmlWhat I wonder is why Republicans just happen to make so many awful comments "in jest?" I look at things like this and recognize the origin of the slur and that it is an attack against the candidate, the president, and Muslims. Yet, Republicans keep these guys around and invite more

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-44987949701199489792010-05-31T09:35:00.001-07:002010-05-31T09:38:15.490-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/us/31spill.html?th&emc=thWhy, oh why, Obama did you not respond to this with greater urgency? I want to support what they are doing, but the truth is that they did not seem to take strong enough action. Sure, they could not have stopped the oil leak themselves; however, they could have mobilized people earlier to keep the oil off the coast. Yet, they did

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-37344077797341290172010-05-26T07:25:00.000-07:002010-05-26T07:32:31.332-07:00

Flood plains are fascinating places. They turn liberals into anti government-intervention conservatives and conservatives into great babies sucking on the bottle of society. They do this because many smaller, more conservative places live within the floodplains and demand dams, levies, roads, etc, (all built at OTHER taxpayer's expense) to keep them safe, while liberals would just as soon tell

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-5603493090854311412010-05-26T07:17:00.000-07:002010-05-26T07:25:33.631-07:00

First, I want to say that I have not done much solution thinking here lately. I sound more like a pundit sometimes, complaining about things. That said, I have something interesting today. It is the contradiction between two subjects I study: urban planning/urban design and hazard mitigation. Despite our seeming obsession with risk in this country, we really do a terrible job of thinking about

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-85997042433822706482010-04-30T21:20:00.001-07:002010-04-30T21:33:26.883-07:00

To me, there are a number of arguments that I find interesting with regards to our southern border. There is one thing, though, that I find especially frustrating.http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/30/arizona.deputy.shot/?hpt=T1That article is about a police officer shot by a drug smuggler. The comments afterward are pretty heavy. First, people often spend the entire time blasting illegal

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-33010317605240995532010-04-22T09:05:00.000-07:002010-04-22T09:07:29.431-07:00

So, I am apparently a property rights moderate.I know, I was surprised too, but I realized that, relative to what is allowed under the US Constitution, I am a blasted conservative. This is not from some uneducated interpretation of what people think they read, but from reading decades of Supreme Court cases in my Planning Law course this quarter. The experience has been good if for no other

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-10269710063361193602010-04-22T09:01:00.000-07:002010-04-22T09:05:29.343-07:00

I have heard that the best agreement is one where both sides are 80% happy and 20% unhappy. Regardless of what you think of this definition, when people talk about two political parties getting along, we tend to think that a deal is better when no one fully likes the deal, but both are willing to accept it. How about both see progress on a bill, but both say for different reasons. The following

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-50797786566036527802010-04-03T22:38:00.000-07:002010-04-03T22:42:46.643-07:00

Alright, so I have complained a lot here and elsewhere about "social" media making us less social. This article shows, in a strange way, however, that it can be used to bring people together.http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pillow-fight-day4-2010apr04,0,5076321.storySure, pillow fights, zombie walks, etc, are not the kinds of events I would hope people would get involved in (and very

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-9641680596330425532010-04-02T22:52:00.000-07:002010-04-02T22:52:49.325-07:00

For Templeton Prize, intelligent design opponent Francisco Ayala / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.comThis is one of the most interesting points about intelligent design made in this article that I have ever heard. It basically argues that our imperfection is proof that random, unguided evolution occurs since if we were all made as we are by God, we would be perfect. Anyway, I would

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-47184581157795330122010-03-23T19:01:00.001-07:002010-03-23T19:04:01.147-07:00

The NY Times had an interesting article on Israel who has really gotten out of hand.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/world/middleeast/24diplo.htmlIsrael lately has decided to act like a juvenile country and embarrass two of their allies, US and Britain. They should know better than to treat two major foreign aid donors like friends of convenience. It is my hope that they will be forced to act

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-12905489447687669082010-03-15T20:51:00.000-07:002010-03-15T20:55:28.872-07:00

http://go.sojo.net/campaign/glennbeck_socialjustice?qp_source=act_1003_coc_ecThe above is a petition from the Sojourner's website. They are a group of largely liberal, social justice type Christians. Sometimes they are even too liberal for me!That said, Glen Beck said something interesting about social justice Christianity the other day when he equated it with Nazism and communism. I have also

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-88638114476046639222010-03-15T15:28:00.001-07:002010-03-15T15:35:00.281-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/us/15water.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=thThe above article is a fascinating foray into our sense of entitlement in this county. It is interesting to me that we have liberals demanding things for free and conservatives demanding that the government give them things - but no one else. I wish I could have highlighted several passages in the above article, such as

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-9429732280170811672010-03-13T21:37:00.000-08:002010-03-13T21:40:25.676-08:00

I just joined the coffee party.Part of my reason for doing so is because I really miss talking politics and hanging out.The other part of my reason is because I like the idea of a group that sees itself as moderate (though this may turn out to not be reality). Even more, regardless of whether it is moderate or not, its mission is to create a place for CIVIL discussion. This alone would make me

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-73151847477524671072010-03-13T21:26:00.000-08:002010-03-13T21:32:18.493-08:00

When working with communities with different cultural or ethnic "values" than my own, I am often forced to come to terms with the post-modern ideal of cultural (and often moral) relativism. I do not believe it, as my recent post on Truth vs. Tolerance discussed. The following article details the problem I spoke of in that post (though this article in particular pertains to the UK).http://

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-17282900608518726562010-03-12T14:45:00.000-08:002010-03-12T14:46:28.857-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.htmlThis article is about why separation of church and state is important and an argument against control of education resting with the states.AARRRGGGHHH.

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-7143799754525199582010-03-12T10:28:00.000-08:002010-03-12T10:33:20.654-08:00

Sustainability indicators can be thought of as jokes normally. They really do not do much. Cities frequently use them with erroneous indicator variables to show that they are doing well. Last night my group and I won a presentation competition in a Planning Methods course, acting as consultants from a made-up firm, Three Pillars. We did this by arguing that such indicators must be products

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-44169199365985884862010-03-12T10:22:00.000-08:002010-03-12T10:28:34.705-08:00

His possible indiscretions and other weird behavior aside, Massa did an excellent interview with Glenn Beck earlier this week. The entire interview in my opinion was saved by the last few minutes when Massa told Beck to stop calling fellow Americans names.You should check out the video of the interview. Here is John Stewart's (obviously unbiased) recap.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/11/

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-27452527666562458532010-03-04T07:26:00.001-08:002010-03-04T07:31:52.296-08:00

http://letters.salon.com/politics/war_room/2010/03/03/rnc_fundraising/view/?show=allThis article is about a Republic fundraising presentation where they describe their voters as being motivated by "fear, extreme reactions to current administration," and as being "reactionary. The comments in the article are even more interesting since they are mostly anti-Republican (rare for comments), but with

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-27788949098223642652010-03-01T07:43:00.000-08:002010-03-01T07:54:03.546-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/us/01water.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=thThe above NY Times article discusses the weakening of the Clean Water Act, increased pollution levels since that weakening, and the efforts to prevent an updated version to fix the gaps from being implemented. The anti-clean water efforts are led by Republicans like Glen Beck and polluting companies. What I do not get is

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-70332012835323179332010-02-25T11:14:00.000-08:002010-02-25T11:22:21.681-08:00

While respecting people's values is important, to what extent should specific cultural values that go against fundamental rights (in our view) be respected? This arises constantly in Planning (full of relativists - though I am not one), where people discuss the idea of protecting specific ethnic values on the basis of giving people equal rights to protect their culture. My question is, to what

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-81223504013360286912010-02-23T17:11:00.001-08:002010-02-23T17:15:58.562-08:00

I was reading an article in the Washington Post about the recent terrorist attack on the IRS building in Austin, and it had a number of Tea Party types basically saying that, while what Stacks did was wrong, he is representative of the anger at the government the American people feel. Even a Texas candidate for governor said this. What is really frustrating to me about all of this is that the

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-76948388369094430032009-12-05T14:31:00.000-08:002009-12-05T14:37:13.869-08:00

The Swiss banned minarets, the French banned headscarves, and other countries in Europe are pushing for massive, widespread deportations of Muslims. Europeans love to pretend to be very liberal, but in many ways we are often more liberal than Europeans. I would be shocked if any main-line politician who believes in individual liberties here would vote to ban anything relating to someone's

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-15247207848406496612009-11-10T22:21:00.000-08:002009-11-10T22:27:03.659-08:00

I have not written here in awhile. This is because I have given up my life to work in GIS and do urban planning class stuff all day. It is great, though, and I have received many blessings of late.That said, the political world is crazier each day (though it feels less crazy now). Health care will pass, I hope leaving us better off (and it seems it will. Climate change legislation, banking

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-2894942697893608432009-09-17T10:55:00.001-07:002009-09-17T10:58:54.335-07:00

Today, the Obama administration ended the missile defense program in Easten Europe. Conservatives said we were surrendering to the Russians. The truth is, they are being short-sighted because it is not weakness to try and get along with them, especially when allies like Georgia really did provoke that war in S. Ossetia. Additionally, we really need their support on Iran and in making Iran fall

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-11309914791861965962009-09-14T14:19:00.000-07:002009-09-14T14:22:21.563-07:00

Remember when Libya, Egypt, China, and Iran have protests how we say that they are contrived by the government in order to put pressure on opponents? We do this on a regular basis in reference to authoritarian/partly-authoritarian states.I find that protests in this country are regularly just as contrived, especially when a massive number of people are brought to Washington in order to call the

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-88067432290502462242009-09-11T09:19:00.000-07:002009-09-11T09:23:02.168-07:00

I had hoped that the "We are All Americans" worldwide mentality and the unity in this country finally would spell the beginning of the remaking of America. It has sadly not. While virtually all of us were together mourning for the victims of the attack, we quickly broke apart with accusations of terrorist sympathies, war-mongering, facism, socialism, lying, etc, leveled at one another. I

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-44047703530701058862009-09-06T08:49:00.000-07:002009-09-06T08:54:53.672-07:00

The following story has lots of comments, most of which are like the following (I read a bunch of them, but not all). The point behind posting these comments is to say that there is no way we can have a discussion when the rightful winners of the past election are called Marxist and other stuff. Also, another thing I cannot handle, is that calling the President of the United States a

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-71753094584128782552009-09-02T20:38:00.000-07:002009-09-02T21:01:43.355-07:00

Obama will be addressing children to deliver an educational message sometime in September for 15 minutes of a 1-hour long program.Listening to the Republican pundits on Fox would make one think he is trying to indoctrinate them. The movement to keep children at home from school in order to not listen to the President is truly unprecedented since the President is the leader of this country, the

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-36395669349612224572009-08-26T22:17:00.000-07:002009-08-26T22:22:21.185-07:00

The great challenge I feel is to understand the world, and those living within it, taking nothing individually, but instead viewing it in context of the interconnections and causal interrelations that define us all. Lately I have forgotten this and have gotten all partisan about certain topics out of frustration and, probably, ignorance of the actual views of the 'other side.' Everything is

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-39424589172877105012009-08-26T08:52:00.001-07:002009-08-26T08:57:17.878-07:00

When I wrote what I wrote yesterday about arrogance, I probably committed the error of oversimplifying the problem.I forgot to note that Congress had basically given the go-ahead to the extreme levels of risk-taking seen when, during the 1990s, they removed regulations that had prevented such a crisis since the Great Depression.Similarly, in an article in the NY Times, I read about the Homecoming

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-54893262289481386172009-08-25T11:24:00.000-07:002009-08-25T11:41:10.240-07:00

We have seen the frustration experienced as families fail and banks and companies are saved from what would be a justified demise. We saved them because they control all of us and without them we would all be much worse off. We were helpless as banks demanded to be saved first, much like the rich were able to get the seats on the few lifeboats leaving the Titanic.This arrogance exhibited among

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-56960778746098925702009-08-25T09:26:00.000-07:002009-08-25T09:32:44.901-07:00

Republicans right now are looking to break Obama on Health Care and think they can, which I believe is the principle reason that they will NOT compromise. This is not surprising on one side-since that is how politicians make their living these days-but on the other, Obama is so incredibly moderate, that they Republicans could have almost anything provided they agree to work

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-49488126596334173192009-08-25T09:09:00.000-07:002009-08-25T09:17:56.697-07:00

A quick word. How many of us have watched a movie in which a super-villain has done evil and then said that he should be done in because we all know he will escape and destroy more lives. Another thought: how many of us would kill Hitler, Stalin, Saddam, Osama, Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il, Ismael Haniya, Mugabe, if all that it took was tossing a bomb at him and then thousands of lives would be saved (

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-88900848474519321382009-08-19T12:30:00.000-07:002009-08-19T12:38:39.580-07:00

To anyone who has seen a lot of Simpsons Episodes, the following dialogue will be familiar.In the episode where Springfield bans alcohol, Duff Beer creates a new product called Duff Zero.Duff President: We believe that people drink Duff not for its alcohol content, but for its robust taste. For this reason, we have created Duff Zero, the non-alcoholic Duff beer.Similarly, in an interview on the

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-4908473751634155042009-08-17T18:12:00.000-07:002009-08-17T19:04:56.969-07:00

I am exceedingly frustrated by the current health care debate in the United States for a couple of reasons. One of these is that it has stopped me from thinking and discussing about important international issues on which the fate of our country also hangs, such as getting out of the recession like other countries are doing, improving relations with China, figuring out how to deal with Russia,

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-14913749986402734212009-08-13T13:25:00.000-07:002009-08-13T13:31:05.767-07:00

People in this country seem to be against anything and everything that is changed. Republicans act all holy and say that this is an example of them being right. The rediculous thing, is that we are coming off of an extremely expansive government. Republicans are acting like they have the answers when what we need now is a solution that involves us all collectively, forcing us to turn to the

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-79439178901974725182009-08-04T16:09:00.000-07:002009-08-04T16:17:01.591-07:00

NPR had a very interesting report tonight about the conservative crowds that disrupt meetings. The conservative movement fascinates me because they are refusing to deal with this with civility. They get up and say Obama is not an American citizen and yell and scream. They fight, complain, whine, and what is most fascinating, they do not know anything they are talking about. Obama is

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-52081059052177882132009-08-03T10:33:00.000-07:002009-08-03T10:38:45.370-07:00

A girl is suing her college in New York because she did not get a job and is claiming that she was entitled to one.I am listening to World Have Your Say on the BBC right now and there are many people who are arguing that they have the RIGHT to a job just because they went to University.This is one example of a society that claims entitlements and, what's worse, claims that we do things ourselves.

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-86804721935787639192009-07-30T07:10:00.000-07:002009-07-30T07:16:53.307-07:00

The NY Times had an interesting article today about Israeli outposts that have been erected in protests to the Obama Administration's demand that settlement building and expansion stopped. Never mind that these guys are crazy fundamentalists, this is extremely frustrating because we have, as a country, supported Israel more than virtually any other place, and now Israel refuses to help reach

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-37921040795178983752009-07-26T19:49:00.000-07:002009-07-26T20:00:45.039-07:00

There is a power line being built in Idaho and Wyoming. Building something that stretches over miles of land is always hugely controversial since it impacts all types of people. When routing in eastern Wyoming, the routers came into a problem. A major land-owner had property that was in the way. The Wyoming state official working with the routers paled and said that it was not possible to go

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-44003989990558575432009-07-26T19:37:00.000-07:002009-07-26T19:49:24.982-07:00

VP Biden spent some time in Georgia recently telling the Georgians (this is the Eurasian country, not the state) that we would back them up. This was utterly stupid in my opinion, especially given the restraint that Obama had originally shown on the issue. The problem I have with this is that had we been in Russia's shoes, we would have attacked Georgia too.Georgia is a conglomeration of ethnic

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-31607255625777739782009-07-26T19:05:00.000-07:002009-07-26T19:31:51.497-07:00

Several years ago during my brother's Eagle Scout ceremony, I told my brother that his receipt of the honor was a badge that required him to be the Actor, the one at whom the buck stopped because no one else will. This is something to which I also aspire. I believe, in more concise terms, that if you see wrong, fight it, for no one else will. Fight it with humility, clarity, passion,

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-60850927212228575232009-07-13T12:52:00.000-07:002009-07-13T13:03:22.386-07:00

Flint, Michigan is conducting one of the most fascinating policies for Urban Renewal. Known as "city-shrinking," this policy is designed to destroy abandoned areas/neighborhoods in order to replace them with green space and reconcentrate the population in a more central area. I really like this idea, and I believe it could be a valuable tool for recreating a vibrant feeling in a dying city and,

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-23150918256959327052009-07-13T12:48:00.000-07:002009-07-17T23:11:01.348-07:00

Every year a bill comes up in the US Congress (and sometimes at the UN) to declare Turkey's World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide. This always fails because, simply put, Turkey is really, really, really important.A interesting event occurred the other day when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called China's treatment of the Uighers as a "kind of genocide."By acknowledging something

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-66557517091791596372009-07-09T14:19:00.000-07:002009-07-09T14:25:07.310-07:00

The outpouring of support, grief, money, etc at the Michael Jackson funeral really struck me as interesting. These were people committed to the point of spending thousands or more just to get into the funeral. I sincerely wish that the passion exhibited there was also present as our country attempts to resolve the current crisis. It does not have to be this way. During the Asian financial

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-50562523011381645502009-07-08T16:05:00.000-07:002009-07-08T16:07:37.629-07:00

The Current TV show Supernews is awesome. It overwhelmingly represents my views on tons of things from Las Vegas, NV to social networking, so conservatives, to liberals, to Christmas (mostly). That is, it sees Las Vegas as the modern-day Sodom, it sees social networking sites as absurd-especially Twitter, it is mean to conservative Limbaugh supporters, while recognizing they have a role in

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-90607374365667168892009-07-07T11:17:00.000-07:002009-07-07T11:26:38.471-07:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h66J1UYJfa_TQrfb48nfeCniNTegD999OPFO0I found this AP article a bit earlier. It argues that the internet is once again key to the protests going on right now in Urumqi, the capital of Xinxiang, the province currently restive in far western China. I felt the need, in light of my previous post, to underline that I agree the internet is important,

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-68610860891101714252009-07-07T08:43:00.000-07:002009-07-07T08:58:17.106-07:00

July is barely a week old and already it is appearing interesting.First is this stupid Seattle weather...it is currently about 50 degrees, cloudy, and rainy. In Texas I would be hot and unhappy, but at least it would be summer.Sarah Palin decided to be a loose cannon again this week by randomly quitting the governor's post. She then went on to say that this was the "out of the box" thinking

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-14327121679267515592009-07-04T15:37:00.000-07:002009-07-04T15:43:00.087-07:00

I am trying to figure this out. It seems that conservatives in general take the tack of "exploit, use-up, its your right to use your property as you wish regardless of consequences to others." Reading a recent article in the NY Times, I was struck that the conservative justices always side with the companies. Once of the greatest problems with the capitalist economic system is that it is

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-16129485485484822572009-07-02T08:55:00.000-07:002009-07-02T09:04:42.910-07:00

I just listened to a report on the BBC about how the European Football Federation gave referees the power to suspend matches and end matches for racist behavior. This comes on the heels of several incidents in Italy and elsewhere where African-descent players were harrassed by racists in the stands.I am also reading a book about discrimination in post-war Detroit and the lengths that white and

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-20072958478360150402009-07-01T09:37:00.001-07:002009-07-01T09:37:30.385-07:00

Here is an article I enjoyed from the NY Times.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/us/01scotus.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-31632865075418015002009-06-30T09:29:00.000-07:002009-06-30T09:44:34.923-07:00

This coming fall, the Supreme Court is going to attempt to determine the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act. At the core of the case is the question of whether unlimited campaign donations are speech protected by the 1st Amendment of our Constitution. In other words, is money speech.If money is speech, then one's ability to exercise free speech is contingent

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-78564007045318166362009-06-21T22:06:00.000-07:002009-06-21T22:16:55.075-07:00

In my preparation to enter the Urban Planning program this fall, I have been reading books about planning, past practices, and related subjects. I am struck beyond all else by two phenomena: first, the role of democracy and money-powered groups in determining the direction of a city, and second, that few people participate in planning, and that number is dropping because we are working toward an

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-3251795788112000992009-06-21T21:56:00.000-07:002009-06-21T22:01:27.764-07:00

Today in a bookstore, I found books on the Liberal Elite, the Wall Street Elite, the Mental Health Elite, the Intelligence Elite, the Tax Elite, the list (actually) goes on. It struck me that we have a serious issue with people we see as "Elite" in this country, while simultaneously we would like nothing better than to become one of those elites....either that or it helps to sell books by

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-60032957012207350302009-06-19T10:28:00.001-07:002009-06-19T10:36:24.184-07:00

Iran is in turmoil, I get it. I am listening to the BBC World Have Your Say right now and hearing people come in an demonstrate exactly why I distrust the value of Social Media as a means of mobilizing. I would also like to call attention to the comment made by a friend of mine on the post before this one (go look at it!).There are relatively few Twitter users in Iran, as a guest on the BBC

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-16663757559957015812009-06-18T20:35:00.000-07:002009-06-18T20:44:27.102-07:00

I sincerely dislike Twitter because I believe that breaking everything down int 140 character or less sound-bites is a terrible idea for an already maladjusted and attention span-less society. Still, I have found the arguments that Twitter is spurring on the Iranian Revolution of 2009 to be intriguing. And also wrong.I will not disagree that Twitter, Facebook, and related social ::shudder::

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-81020156582873519462009-06-15T09:04:00.000-07:002009-06-15T09:27:17.255-07:00

Having just finished another book on planning and development, I am beginning to get worried. On top of all this, when I say the things I will discuss here, more and more people are agreeing with me. This topic started out as a side-note to my interest on development in the age of globalization, and instead has become a central challenge to planning and community development theory in my life.I

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-71080630651816165722009-06-09T11:33:00.001-07:002009-06-10T14:42:45.682-07:00

Lately I have listened to many commentators discuss how racism is dead and how young people today are no longer inhibited by the bounds of discrimination. While I disagree with this and can pile up mountains of evidence to prove it, I feel that there is a point to be made here on the overall importance of racism in deciding people's fate. I think that, in many ways, we have moved beyond

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-5964664312046891232009-06-07T00:04:00.000-07:002009-06-07T00:16:42.315-07:00

This whole new exciting world of Supreme Court confirmation hearings that are not yet even begun has once again demonstrated that the Court is a product of political ideology, not judicial vision or qualifications. Things have gone so far this time that we are seeing Sonia Sotomayor being called a racist, bigot, and lots of other things for suggesting that race/ethnicity and gender play a role

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-11661190884978984552009-06-04T12:38:00.000-07:002009-06-04T12:50:47.444-07:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jKUtKujvUeji2h3nMXaF4DseM_zgD98K0PBG2In the above article forces me to raise the question: who owns stolen treasure? Is it the people who own the ship that carried (Spain), the carriers themselves-or their descendents (the merchants who were aboard the ship), the finders (the Odyessey Company), or the people it was originally stolen from (the

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-51786630876876985632009-06-02T17:19:00.000-07:002009-06-02T17:50:45.188-07:00

This is an extension of previous posts on this topic. If I repeat things, I apologize, I am pretty frustrated by some of the trends and tendencies I see in the way we act as a society toward some of the most important and/or vulnerable elements.First I want to talk about capitalism. I have long decried the share-holder and consumer based capitalism that I view as having sprung up in our country

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-34919870972807661662009-05-29T08:25:00.000-07:002009-05-29T12:08:55.355-07:00

For those who are familiar with some of my ideas on planning and community development, you know that my ultimate social goal is unity in diversity. This requires us to prepare and consciously seeks to create diverse and varied communities, a goal that runs counter not only to previous decades and centuries of urban planning, but also to the natural tendency of humanity to either segregate others

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-48849878841276993732009-05-25T22:27:00.001-07:002009-05-25T22:52:33.127-07:00

I found out two days ago that they were moving my bus stop and effectively removing my transportation. This comes as another step in the goal of Metro King County to reduce the ridership on the buses to zero ahead of a small, ineffective light rail system through an overcrowded, broke city that will not be functional until 2020. I now have to walk 15 minutes in the rain, cold, dark, etc, to get

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-38081729225007981972009-05-22T15:52:00.000-07:002009-05-22T16:02:54.784-07:00

The US Supreme Court has done a lot of good and evil in its time, often ruling one way, such as in favor of segregation, and then righting itself later on. It swings, as we all know, with the Presidency, and the issues around who will become a justice is extremely important to a myriad of groups. I believe that the focus and importance placed on the Supreme Court placements by activist groups

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-56071380761735669932009-05-21T18:46:00.000-07:002009-05-21T20:12:55.602-07:00

The New York Times had an article today about the latest round of California referendums. Here is a link to the article:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/us/21calif.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=thCalifornia is possibly the third-worst run state in the country, after Texas and Mississippi. They have the largest population in the US, the 8th largest economy in the world, and the a budget deficit

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-80162520769043638052009-05-18T12:47:00.000-07:002009-05-18T13:01:57.619-07:00

I have recently started reading a book called "Death and Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs. This book was written in the 1950's, and yet is probably at least as relevant today as it was then. The advice offered by the book was largely ignored, so we can see the outcome of failing to follow it today.In the first sections, I have already found tons of information that is benefitting

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-45381804111390375722009-05-16T15:40:00.000-07:002009-05-19T09:05:25.732-07:00

In trying to understand processes of environmental degredation, concentration of dangerous industries in low-income areas, and the prevalence of low-cost, high impact products in modern society, I look again to the relationship between short-term costs and long-term impacts on society and the environment. Capitalism as an economic system excels in assigning costs based on the cost of production

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-86361952882852221092009-05-13T14:03:00.000-07:002009-05-13T14:25:52.823-07:00

Last summer while looking in an airport bookstore, I found a book about how the world was entering a new age of "free" stuff, where we could get things for free, enlist help from people remotely to solve complex problems, and generally improve our ability to get things done and done cheaply. While the idea of improved interconnectivity may well assist in finding solutions to complex

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-19163897303368425762009-05-12T07:17:00.000-07:002009-05-12T15:46:51.974-07:00

I just had to listen to part of a commercial from Conservatives for Health Care Choice (or something like that) about how "Americans know best when it comes to health care" and that we wanted to preserve choice of doctor, choice of treatment, up-front costs. I have been holding back from writing this post for awhile since I was not sure if I had anything to add, but listening to that group

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-79213812385049305532009-05-11T16:41:00.000-07:002009-05-11T21:15:23.541-07:00

I have been told this a million times by people I would argue with about the Iraq War, or any number of other things. My dad pointed out something once awhile back that made me realize all those Republicans were absolutely right, but in ways they did not expect. While we were down fishing in South Texas, we came out of a restaurant and there was a women with a Freedom Isn't Free t-shirt and she

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-88720490928800607142009-05-08T14:54:00.000-07:002009-05-08T15:26:12.294-07:00

Every year for the past several years, we have been listening to constant news reports about large brush fires destroying houses in Southern California near Santa Barbara, San Diego, etc. This constant bombardment was not always the norm. People used to live in cities away from yearly fires, but unsustainable development practice, subsidization through infrastructure construction, and pure

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-44002028328371289062009-05-08T14:37:00.000-07:002009-05-08T14:53:17.300-07:00

The Digital Divide refers to the growing gap between those with access to globalization technologies (such as the internet, telecommunications, etc) and those without. As a future community development planner, I am interested in figuring out how to increase the access of the under served to the benefits of globalization and its technologies. Increased access is part of my goal to level the

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-34787891729256380572009-05-08T14:23:00.000-07:002009-05-08T14:37:14.848-07:00

I try to keep myself from sounding "old-fashioned" here, but my most recent experience with the use of sex as a selling point for a social movement has gone too far. Today, at a booth for Relay for Life, an event meant to raise money to combat cancer, I saw a number of t-shirts reading "Save Second Base" and "Copping a Feel Never Felt So Good." They were referring specifically to breast cancer,

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-11434715143589849902009-05-08T08:57:00.000-07:002009-05-08T09:09:08.016-07:00

People should never be able to vote on the rights of others.This has recently come to renewed importance in the wake of California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in a predominately liberal state. Marriage in the United States is a legal definition, more than a religious one, because being married in a church alone is not sufficient to be considered "married" by the federal government

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-7357445457126710142009-05-07T23:16:00.000-07:002009-05-07T23:32:49.753-07:00

It has been argued that people's perception of danger in society is directly affected by the crime coverage on the nightly news, which far and away overstates the actual danger to any given individual or family. Stories on the news have increasingly led to a society where families attempt to shelter their members from the outside world, preventing any possible access to violence, including

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-54274164847704462272009-05-06T09:23:00.001-07:002009-05-06T10:34:47.322-07:00

Look closely at any issue and you will find that it is likely more complex than initially thought. Rarely is it possible to find an easy solution or an explanation for any problem. For me, I try to understand issues by viewing them in context-how they are related to everything else. This method is based on the belief that the world is best viewed through the system of interactions and causal

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-29444716532287527922009-05-05T23:29:00.000-07:002009-05-06T00:11:12.241-07:00

If my parents were to read this, they would be upset: The local is not always more democratic. This is an extension of my earlier argument about the failure of democratic development to take into account the needs and demands of those who are not represented in the political process.By making development local, the goal is to create policies that are more responsive to local needs. The

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-2385414093370546082009-05-05T21:43:00.000-07:002009-05-05T21:47:55.480-07:00

I received this email from a reader and thought I would post it since I feel it makes some good points.I was walking to lunch today and I overheard a girl talking to a guy in a black suit with a white collar.She said "If I loved this world filled with people, I would not have created AIDS, I would not have created the black plague..."This is something that I often found myself grappling with. If

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-77854010800396808422009-05-05T08:41:00.000-07:002009-05-05T09:08:07.803-07:00

I have been frustrated lately by both the extreme lack of understanding and the ideological rantings of people over this current crisis. The idea that personal responsibility and corporate accountability as hallmarks of capitalism still exist is untrue. We have entered into a time of share-holder capitalism and consumer capitalism.Share-holder capitalism is the running of corporations for the

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-83987577546174750882009-05-04T18:58:00.000-07:002009-05-04T19:08:29.564-07:00

Seattle makes me centrist (well, nearly). When I was at home in Texas, I could never understand local Republicans who would tell me how they were responsible for their own successes, and how they felt the government should get out of the lives of ordinary citizens. They fail to realize, of course, that their roads come from somewhere. Similarly, I am repeatedly amazed at the willingness of

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-20043900867134557642009-05-04T13:33:00.001-07:002009-05-05T21:30:10.682-07:00

This is probably not the last post that I will write on the role of government in American society, but with it I hope to cover a couple of major issues. Despite what people claim, the Constitution of the United States is not all that clear when it comes to the role of government in the daily lives of citizens.A few undeniable truths include that the government has control over defense, security

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-28980663566974698412009-05-03T15:51:00.000-07:002009-05-04T13:18:32.631-07:00

I am now living in Seattle, Washington, one of the most democratic places (in terms of politics and its urban planning process) that exists, and a hallmark of why Democratic Development often fails.As some of you may know, democratic development, the process by which the citizens decide upon the future path of their city or state, is something I have studied extensively. Lately, I have come to

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-12585835796939165492009-05-03T15:39:00.000-07:002009-05-03T15:47:00.536-07:00

The problem of Political Third Rails is more severe now than ever before as we face a crisis of governance. Not only are we having to redesign our military, but the time has come to update and/or cut many social programs that have been the hallmark of our social system for decades. A few years ago, Social Security was called the political "third rail." This was somewhat true, but not as much

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-65422271129778438652009-05-03T15:22:00.000-07:002009-05-03T23:09:02.347-07:00

It is time for to take a moment to discuss something that has been bothering me for some time with my Faith, Christianity-polarization. Who is surprised that I am once again talking about the exact same subject that is dominating my other posts right now? I am a bit hesitant to write this knowing that many people who might read this are not Christians, nor interested in what I have to say here,

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-65316663060210738152009-05-03T15:05:00.001-07:002009-05-03T15:21:51.959-07:00

I cut my previous post short because it is very general and I will need to go into depth on some of the central challenges of social fragmentation, social exclusion, and self-segregation. For the most serious problems of political polarization, I lay the blame squarely at the feet of the US media which IS biased toward the conservatives, liberals, populists, libertarians, atheists, christians,

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-45108317231507087052009-05-03T14:50:00.000-07:002009-05-03T15:04:56.169-07:00

After the first few posts, I figured it was about time to go into more detail about the Age of Globalization and what I believe can be identified as its characteristics. These are listed as follows:Globalization has resulted in increased social fragmentation on a large scale, while simultaneously seeing increased cohesion among homogenous, small groups. This results from increasing

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-27420238732826238742009-05-03T09:33:00.000-07:002009-05-04T10:32:35.342-07:00

Lately I have been bombarded by a constant stream of ideologically charged banter going on about how A) We pay too high of taxes and the government should give more tax cuts/the government is bad at providing services and B) The government should not cut the budget because it needs to provide valuable social services, yet it also should not increase taxes since that damages the economy. Neither

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-13104701258132617252009-05-02T22:55:00.000-07:002009-05-03T14:49:13.381-07:00

In a rapidly globalizing world, technologies of social exclusion are becoming not only a central part of the lives of average people, but a major challenge to planners and policy makers. Technologies of social exclusion refer to technology that allows individuals to customize to an extent never before imagined their social environment and, importantly, prevent unwanted people from entering it. A

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7060387281695955378.post-80795097935952206172009-05-02T12:07:00.000-07:002009-05-05T23:20:05.288-07:00

I am creating this blog after having spent the past couple of years writing ideas down in a notebook. This is a terribly inefficient way to maintain and test new ideas as it does not leave many opportunities to build on them with others.The name, "Age of Globalization" refers to the dominant force redefining social, political, and cultural phenomena worldwide. The discussion can and will likely

Derrick Hiebert-Flammhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16936588059367106038noreply@blogger.com0