Why I'm voting Republican

and why
you should too

John McCain...

you can't have him

MoveOn, the country's most successful independent progressive organization won't be backing down for this presidential election. Its officials insist that it will continue to represent the views of their members across the county. This means developing the most provocative advertising possible.


They aren't kidding. A new TV ad, which will air in the swing states of Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, highlights John McCain's 100 years pledge regarding the U.S. military commitment to Iraq.

Meanwhile, over at the Obama camp, they've launched a folksy but national ad campaign. It's Message? Barack Obama is just like you. He knows what it's like to start with little and work your way up, he loves his country, he loves his family.

Obama's back

...on a bike,
that is

And in Chicago. He took a relaxing Sunday bike ride with his family to a friend's house and then on to the Lake Shore Path. He's even sporting a helmet. Although some might think it was an unflattering choice.

Vanishing acts

and the man
who was there

In 1940, Josef Stalin orders Commissar for Water Transport, Nikolai Yezhov, removed from a photo of the two taken in happier times.


Then last fall, Vladimr Putin orders video shots of Mikhail G. Delyagin, a critical political analyst, removed from a prominent political talk-show.


Definitely looks to me like Putin is moving forward on his plans for world domination....

Gulf gear?

from John McCain's
campaign site...

Presumably, the four tabs across the top indicate his top four agenda items?

Compare to Obama who recently, in Portland, OR, highlighted one his own top agenda items:

$240 a year for bike commuters

Contact your senators,
NOW!

On 21 May 08, just before the Memorial Day recess, the US House of Representatives passed H.R. 6049, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008. It includes a $20 per month transportation fringe benefit for bike commuters to cover the costs of commuting.

The Senate finance committee is expected to take up the measure the week of 2nd June. The League of American Bicyclists is asking those senators who previously co-sponsored S. 858, The Bicycle Commuters Benefit Act 2007, to support a joint letter, being distributed by Senator Ron Wyden, to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Finance Committee asking them to adopt the House provision.

Please take a moment to click here to contact your senators and urge them to support the joint letter.

The 3 foot rule...

and a
modest proposal

The Chicago Cycling Chic offers a novel way to monitor cager compliance with the new Illinois 3 foot rule.

Received a foam claw from a Freecycler. I plan on painting it either orange or yellow or something that glows in the dark. Then I'll incorporate the IL 3-ft minimum to pass law information on the claw as well as my milk crate. The claw is about 15" wide so if anyone hits it, they neglected to give me the additional 21" MINIMUM they are legally required to give me.

As described by Gary Washburn in The Chicago Tribune, the 3 foot rule requires that:

[d]rivers better steer clear of bicyclists in Chicago or they will face big fines under a new ordinance the City Council approved Wednesday. The ordinance includes fines on motorists who turn left or right in front of someone on a bicycle; pass with less than 3 feet of space between the car and a bike; or open a vehicle door into the path of a cyclist.

Fines for violations range from $150 to $500. The measure also adds fines for parking or otherwise obstructing marked bike lanes. Aldermen did not debate the measure before approving it. But in committee discussions last week some council members told aides to Mayor Richard Daley that something should be done about dangerous bike riders as well. The mayor, an avid cyclist, backed the new measure. Daley wants to launch a new fleet of as many as 1,500 rental bikes in Chicago. Based on programs in the French cities of Paris and Lyon, the bicycles would be available to renters at sites around the city at a minimal cost.

The bike safety issue was highlighted in February when a cyclist was hit and killed by a sport-utility vehicle during an unofficial street race. Witnesses said the accident took place when a group of riders competing in the "Tour Da Chicago" attempted to ride through an intersection against a red light.

A gut feeling?

Our bill of rights, Part I

but what about
our responsibilities?

Streetsblog highlights the differences in bike tolerance between The City of Angels and our own Windy City. Although we come out on top, mostly for recent laws introduced by our bike mayor, I think it misses an important point. New laws and regulations as well the mayor's famous chutzpah haven't made cagers more bike-friendly.

What we need is a more clear statement of our rights ... and responsibilities. LA's Bike Writers Collective has taken on the first half of this equation with their Cyclists Bill of Rights:

WHEREAS, cyclists have the right to ride the streets of our communities and this right is formally articulated in the California Vehicle Code; and

WHEREAS, cyclists are considered to be the “indicator species” of a healthy community; and

WHEREAS, cyclists are both environmental and traffic congestion solutions; and

WHEREAS, cyclists are, first and foremost, people - with all of the rights and privileges that come from being members of this great society; and

1) Cyclists have the right to travel safely and free of fear.

2) Cyclists have the right to equal access to our public streets and to sufficient and significant road space.

3) Cyclists have the right to the full support of educated law enforcement.

4) Cyclists have the right to the full support of our judicial system and the right to expect that those who endanger, injure or kill cyclists be dealt with to the full extent of the law.

5) Cyclists have the right to routine accommodations in all roadway projects and improvements.

6) Cyclists have the right to urban and roadway planning, development and design that enable and support safe cycling.

7) Cyclists have the right to traffic signals, signage and maintenance standards that enable and support safe cycling.

8) Cyclists have the right to be actively engaged as a constituent group in the organization and administration of our communities.

9) Cyclists have the right to full access for themselves and their bicycles on all mass transit with no limitations.

10) Cyclists have the right to end-of-trip amenities that include safe and secure opportunities to park their bicycles.

11) Cyclists have the right to be secure in their persons and property, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure, as guaranteed by the 4th Amendment.

12) Cyclists have the right to peaceably assemble in the public space, as guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

And further, we claim and assert these rights by taking to the streets and riding our bicycles, all in an expression of our inalienable right to ride!

How many debates...

do you need?

Robert A. Caro, a presidential historian, comments on FDR:

Their confidence was restored by his confidence. When he smiled on the crisis, it seemed to vanish.

Obama's elephant

and I don't mean
the Republicans

In the final hours of yesterday's Potomac Primaries, the NYTimes reports on the elephant lurking in Obama's living room: RACE. Ginger Thompson writes that, despite Obama's insistence on a colorblind campaign strategy, his advisers and aids have locked horns over race with not-so surprising results.

Instead of following a plotted course, Mr. Obama’s campaign has zigged and zagged, reacting to outside forces and internal differences between the predominantly white team of top advisers and the mostly black tier of aides.

To be frank, I don't think Obama needs to worry about the race elephant. My fellow citizens are ready for an African-American president. What he should be worrying about, however, is the zig-zag over race. If Obama wins the campaign adviser and aids will become his presidential advisers and aids. It reminds me too much of the Carter Presidency when the bitter policy disagreements between Cyrus Vance, the Secretary of State, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, the National Security Adviser, effectively paralyzed our foreign policy.

What I'm getting at here is that the primary/caucus season is not only a good way to learn about the candidate. It's also a sneak preview of how her/his administration will conduct policy. Carter was the first candidate I got excited about - I was a sophomore in high school. In fact Obama's campaign reminds me a lot of Carter's come-from-behind campaign. Even his campaign slogan, JC Can Save America, has the visionary ring of Obama's Change We Can Believe In. Unfortunately, when Reagan trounced him 4 years later, much of it had to do with Carter's zig-zags. I certainly hope that Obama gets this path straightened out so he can lead that damn elephant out of his living room.

Obama on a trike

the candidate
on bikes

Kweenkong, over at The South Side Star, ran an impromptu caption contest for this picture of a young Barack on his trike. Among all the submissions my odds on favorite has to be,

Blue shirt - check!
Blue shorts - check!
Blue tricycle - check!
Blue states - check!

If you hadn't noticed, Obama is my odds on favorite for our next president. He's no stranger to the streets as his 2004 autobiography shows. And for the last few months the bike-o-sphere has been highlighting his support for bike advocacy.

Chris, who blogs at Trailtapes, wrote Obama asking his support for Senate Bill 858: the Bicycle Commuters Benefits Act of 2007. It's an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that would extend the transportation fringe benefit to bike commuters. A similar tax exemption is currently underway in the UK.

Obama's reply includes:

The benefits of commuting by bicycle is almost an endless list — reducing harmful emissions, reducing congestion, reducing petroleum consumption, promoting personal health — but our public policies have evolved to where smart and sustainable transportation uses are discouraged.

Roads are designed without pedestrian or bike paths, office and shopping parks are designed around the automobile, and even the best transit systems may be incompatible with bike use. It is time to revisit all federal policies to better accommodate the energy and environmental health priorities of the 21st century.

Pedal power

the quiet rise of the bicycle
in American public life

From the night rides of Critical Mass to the dumpster diving Rat Patrol, J. Harry Wray, a bike enthusiast and DePaul University Poli Sci prof, shows the eccentric side of the biking universe. It also illustrates the mainstream efforts of politicians like U.S. Representative Jim Oberstar and plain folks like Biker Mama Jane Healy.

Dedicated to the idea that biking is an ongoing act of nondestructive living, Pedal Power shows why the dominance of the car is yesterday's idea. It edges us closer to a more democratic, multi-modal transportation system so essential in the age of global warming.

The bike, regarded as irrelevant to the 20th century, is making a comeback in the 21st. Pedal Power takes us there and suggests that the most compelling thing about rolling is that it changes the way people experience the world and, therefore, the way they think.

It's déjà vu

...all over again

He ha[s] to touch the secret fears and ambivalent longings of the American heart, divine and speak to the desires of a swiftly changing nation — his message grounded on his own intuition of some vague and spreading desire for national renewal.

You might at first think this refers to Obama who promises to govern in poetry rather than prose. Hillary first alleged this during the New Hampshire Primaries. Actually it refers to JFK. It comes from the 1988 memoir of his speech writer, Richard Goodwin.

Kennedyesque déjà vu also stalks the possibility that an African-American may be our next president. This time though the issue focus on race and gender rather than faith as it did with Kennedy's Catholicism. Folks in the States, except for the rightest of the Extreme Right, are excited by the possibility that an old white guy won't win the election. Elsewhere some are less sanguine. The punchline of this Egyptian cartoon, Hillary and Obama - A Woman and a Negro are Participating in the Campaign for the American Presidency, is

This is another sign of the collapse of the Western civilization!

Why Benazir Bhutto matters

..in death
as in life

بينظير ڀٽو

1953-2007

If Pakistan weren't in one of the world's roughest regions with neighbors like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Tibet,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If global oil prices weren't negatively tied to growing political instability throughout this region,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If Pakistan did not straddle the great divide between Islam and the West,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If Bhutto hadn't supported the Taliban in Afghanistan during her 2nd tenure as Pakistan's prime minister,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If Bhutto hadn't become the only candidate for prime minister who could challenge the Pakistan's radical Islamists,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If Bhutto hadn't successfully accelerated Pakistan's nuclear weapons program,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, didn't need Bhutto to shore up the faltering support of the US,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If the US hadn't pinned its hopes first on Musharraf, and then on Bhutto,for victory in the War on Terror,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If it hadn't become commonplace in Pakistan to assassinate national leaders like Bhutto,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

If Pakistan weren't perpetually and violently on the edge of the abyss,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

UPDATE
31 XII 07

If al-Qaida hadn't claimed responsibility for Bhutto's assassination,

her assassination would be just another political tragedy in one of the ignored corners of the world.

What's in your pocket?

The Story of Stuff

Last week, Kent's Bike Blog posted on Annie Leonard's Story of Stuff. From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view.


It's a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls folks together to create a more sustainable and just world.

During the 1990s, Leonard visited countries throughout Asia to track exported waste from the U.S. and Europe. She documented her findings in many articles and testified before the U.S. Congress in 1992 on the issue of international waste trafficking, in an effort to ban US waste exports to the Third World.

Some assembly required

What's a mob to do?

This video from the Glass Bead Collective reveals how the NYPD now regulates free assembly while physically infringing upon the free press by following a typical monthly bike ride through Manhattan. It requires a permit for any public gathering, or parade, of 50 people or more. Section 1A of the city ruling defines a parade

as any march, motorcade, caravan, promenade, foot, or bicycle race, or similar event of any kind, procession or race which consists of a recognizable group of 50 or more pedestrians, vehicles, bicycles, or other devices move by human power, or ridden or herded animals proceeding together upon any public street or roadway.

The redefinition is explicitly prohibited in 1st Amendment:

Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble ...

On 18 April 18 2007, a federal court upheld the law. The court ruled that large groups will still have to secure parade permits for preset routes to allow police to manage traffic problems. The ruling came after members of NYC massers filed a federal lawsuit alleging their constitutional rights had been violated by the law in February of this year.

Plus ça change...

plus c'est la même chose

Nine countries could kill many people on a moment’s notice by launching missiles carrying nuclear warheads. A 10th, Iran, may be weaponizing uranium. The U.S., Russia and China can bomb virtually any country with long-range ballistic missiles and, along with France and the U.K., could do the same using submarines. The effects of even one bomb could far exceed the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Nuclear Threat, Scientific American, November 2007

Strike bikes

pedals in protest

Deutsche Welle, Germany's state TV network, reports on 22 October 2007 that 3 months ago employees at the Bike Systems company in Nordhausen in the German state of Thuringia, occupied their factory to protest its closure. Now, they've started production of a limited edition Strike Bike to prove the company's viability.

Without a boss or manager in sight, the bicycles are being assembled by the 135 former employees of Production started on Monday, and by Friday, the group hopes to have the limited run of 1,800 pre-ordered bikes ready for shipping throughout Germany and Europe.

"The mood is great," said one of the occupying workers, Eric Schillat. "We really hope that we will be able to continue to produce bikes on a permanent basis."

The group has occupied the Bike Systems factory since July, after the company was closed down and declared insolvent. But unless the former employers find an investor with several millions to spend, they'll likely have to pack their tools and go home.

US private equity investor Lone Star acquired Bike Systems' parent company, Biria back in December 2005. Once one of Europe's biggest bike manufacturers, it was drowning in debt when Lone Star took it over. After shutting down another Biria subsidiary at the end of 2006, production at Bike Systems was stopped at the end of June. Ten days later, Bike Systems registered for insolvency.

Undeterred, the employees came up with the idea of producing the strike bike "We want to show potential investors that we have the capacity cover the costs of production," Schillat said. The three-speed bike, which is available in men's and women's models and comes in a symbolic red color, costs 275 euros. Customers needed to pay the sum in advance.

"We don't have any materials here," Schillat said, "you try ringing to order bike parts as a bankrupt firm." André Kegel, who used to supervise one of Bike System's production lines, called the strike bike "a symbolic action. You can't make any money with the strike bike," he told the German daily Die Welt.

In order to turn a profit, the Nordhausen factory would have to manufacture at least 200,000 bikes a year. And without an investor, the workers won't be able to raise the sums needed to keep the factory open. According to Kegel, for just the parts needed to produce that number, workers would need an advance of 7 to 8 million euros.

And according to Wolfgang Wutzke, the head of the firm in charge of the insolvency, there still isn't an investor in sight.

The longshoreman & the Oxford don

Berlin & Hoffer

Isaiah Berlin
1909-1997

Those who have ever valued liberty for its own sake believed that to be free to choose, and not to be chosen for, is an inalienable ingredient in what makes human beings human.

But to manipulate men, to propel them towards goals which you-the-social-reformers see, but they may not, is to deny their human essence, to treat them as objects without wills of their own, and therefore to degrade them.

Eric Hoffer
1902-1983

The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do. People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a "have" type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a "have not" type of self.