September 23, 2007 archive

Sep 23 2007

Saturday Bike Blogging: Sidewalk Cycling and Other Suicide Lotteries

Well, there you go … just when I was saying how most motorists in this area seem to be reasonably well behaved, at least by the low level that the bar that is set for motorists, I was shouted at.

But it was the exception that “proves” (that is, tests) the rule. On reflection, it was not really misbehavior as a motorist, but merely ignorance on the part of a fellow citizen. And in any case, it wasn’t really my town, so before I reflect on it, at least I could say, “boy, these here folk in this here town shor are ignoramuses”.

But did get me back to thinking about sidewalk cycling and other cycling behavior where we are expected to buy a ticket in the suicide lottery in order to stay out of the way of motorists.

Sep 23 2007

Why I am a Radical

It’s simple really.  Radical problems require radical solutions.

Radical

1. of or going to the root or origin; fundamental: a radical difference.
2. thoroughgoing or extreme, esp. as regards change from accepted or traditional forms: a radical change in the policy of a company.
3. favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radical ideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues.

Dictionary.com

The other night I was telling my 84-year-old father (21 years career Army) about the march in Washington.  I told him that we are going to have to rise up against our government oppressors if we have any hope at all of taking our government back.

“As long as you do it with the ballot box,” he said.  Of course he’s been taught this all his life…and so have I.  Be patient.  Work within the system.

Sep 23 2007

News roundup…

No time for a full essay, today, and Magnifico has the day off, so here are some top news stories…

Los Angeles Times:

Iraq war budget jumps for 2008

Bush plans to increase his request to nearly $200 billion. The troop buildup and new gear are the main reasons.

By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 22, 2007

WASHINGTON — — After smothering efforts by war critics in Congress to drastically cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq, President Bush plans to ask lawmakers next week to approve another massive spending measure — totaling nearly $200 billion — to fund the war through next year, Pentagon officials said.

If Bush’s spending request is approved, 2008 will be the most expensive year of the Iraq war.

If I were writing one essay, today, it would be about that.

Guardian:

The new British empire? UK plans to annex south Atlantic

Owen Bowcott
Saturday September 22, 2007
The Guardian

Britain is preparing territorial claims on tens of thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean floor around the Falklands, Ascension Island and Rockall in the hope of annexing potentially lucrative gas, mineral and oil fields, the Guardian has learned.

The UK claims, to be lodged at the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, exploit a novel legal approach that is transforming the international politics of underwater prospecting.

Britain is accelerating its process of submitting applications to the UN – which is fraught with diplomatic sensitivities, not least with Argentina – before an international deadline for registering interests.

Guardian:

Iran in show of military power

Ned Temk
Saturday September 22, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The Iranian president was talking on the eve of his departure from Tehran, amid a storm of opposition to his visit to New York and growing international alarm over his country’s nuclear ambitions. He is poised to deliver a defiant address to the UN General Assembly this week.

The Iranian military showed off a new long-range ballistic missile called the Ghadr – Farsi for ‘power’. In a speech marking the event, Ahmadinejad shrugged off US and regional concerns about Iran’s more assertive role, saying: ‘Iran is an influential power in the region and the world should know that this power has always served peace, stability, brotherhood and justice.’

Ahmadinejad does what he does: blabbity blabbity blab. Look for our media to use it as further evidence that we need to think about war. Idiots, on both sides, with the Iranian people’s lives hanging in the balance.

More…

Sep 23 2007

Doom! Doom! Doom!

The sky is falling. The sky is falling. There is no escape. We are all doomed. The United States is going to hell in a hand basket. There is no way to stop our inevitable destruction. Face it. Anything we do will turn out badly. There is no hope.

Give me a break.

Each and every day one or the other of us puts into play another theory on our demise, each prediction forecasts our imminent collapse. I suppose that we are expected to panic, to jump off a bridge or a tall building. But, next day after each such rant, almost all of us awaken, the sun rises in the east, and another day gets underway. Life goes on.

Sep 23 2007

Pony Party: Bad Weddings

I did not grow up dreaming of my wedding day. I never kept a scrapbook of wedding ideas. I have never cried at a wedding or got misty. A friend once forced me to watch that silly Wedding Stories on TLC or one of those other cuddly networks and I yawned the whole way through.
One of the true burdens of living in the bible belt, is that I have been forced to attend “dry” receptions. It seems criminal and unjust. Frankly, if I have to buy you a gift, I think you can spot me a glass of wine or two at your reception.

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