One of the most interesting graphics you’ll see this year.
Month: June 2008 Page 6 of 8
The election’s well past now, but Public Whip has an excellent online tool by which you can tell how the three major (okay, two major plus one less minor) parties in British politics line up (in the context of a recent by-election). It’s really well done. It confirmed what I’ve slowly come to realize over the past five or six years – the party that I’ve long identified with is not the party I could bring myself to vote for, anymore.
And they get to the crux of it pretty well, right here:
Metro is the second-busiest transit system in the country, after New York. On several days, when no special events were scheduled, ridership exceeded 800,000 trips.
Metro is the only major transit system in the country without a significant reliable stream of funding. While transit systems that include those in New York, Boston, San Francisco and Philadelphia are guaranteed a portion of a gasoline tax, sales tax or other revenue to help pay costs, Metro must seek financial aid each year from the District, Virginia and Maryland.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) to authorize $1.5 billion over 10 years to Metro for capital improvements and maintenance was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this week as an amendment to a bill authorizing funding for Amtrak. The Metro measure is to be matched by the District, Virginia and Maryland; all three jurisdictions have pledged matching funds.
Metro has been subject to some mismanagement in its history, to be sure. But the past few years (esp. under Dan Tangherlini, now City Administrator) have seen some solid improvements. But the best management in the world can’t overcome chronic funding issues.
maybe almost gone. Even though they’ve been going out of business for what seems like forever now (not their fault – it’s an everchanging landlord issue), it looks like Orpheus Records really are finally winding things down. Was just in there, and the stock is dwindling. Not so much that it’s not worth a trip, if you’re still into vinyl (I picked up a nice first pressing of Billy Preston’s Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music).
David Byrne – Don’t Fence Me In
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3p_Rf0AY6E[/youtube]
Johnny Cash – The Wall (live in Berlin, 1987)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpxQXAjbv5g[/youtube]
M.I.A. – $20
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sei-eEjy4g[/youtube]
With a bonus from Gogol Bordello, which I first discovered because some woman sitting in the same row as me on a CDG-JFK flight was wearing one of their t-shirts:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jv3b0VKec8[/youtube]
I’m a pretty reliable defender of DC’s Metro system. The people that bitch about it either 1) don’t use it, 2) have never used another metro system in the US, or 3) are from NYC. Which means that its critics have no standing, by definition. But that defense got a little harder this week – a couple of near-shutdowns of the Orange line in VA this week, and apparently the Red Line is a complete clusterf(@k at this very moment. And who’s the only person in VA really trying to do something about this? Outgoing Rep. Tom Davis(R). Strange days. C’mon, Jim.
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SciFi site io9 asks William Gibson questions no one else does, and gets interesting answers as a result (imagine that):
None of us ever live in dystopia. That’s an imaginary extreme. They just live in shitty cultures. And these societies [in my books] seem dystopian to middle class white people in North America. They don’t seem dystopian if you live in Rio or anywhere in Africa. Most people in Africa would happily immigrate to the Sprawl.
I don’t think a writer can hit the dystopic key without being misanthropic. I’m actually not misanthropic. I think people are capable of wonderful things. I’m quite fond of them and enjoy their company.
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Speaking of Wonderful Things, the Directory Of pointed us to this gem yesterday:
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The New York Times is running a series on the them of American Exceptionalism, and this article on the near-absolutist take on free speech is excellent. I want to write more about that, but I thought I’d throw up the link now, lest it get lost in the ever-growing pile of drafts around here.
My captioned photos from the final Philly Week race this past weekend are up in this gallery. You can also find my photos at Podium Cafe, Cycleto.com, and the Team Type 1 site.
This story in The Hill reports that there’s a group of 14 GOP Senators and Representatives that have refused to endorse Sen. McCain’s presidential ambitions. When I first saw the headline, I was imagining that it consisted mostly of Republican reps in otherwise Democratic districts that didn’t want to antagonize their constituency. But then I looked at the list:
Republican members who have not endorsed or publicly backed McCain include Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Reps. Jones, Peterson, John Doolittle (Calif.), Randy Forbes (Va.), Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), Virgil Goode (Va.), Tim Murphy (Pa.), Ron Paul (Texas), Ted Poe (Texas), Todd Tiahrt (Kan.), Dave Weldon (Fla.) and Frank Wolf (Va.).
The story doesn’t explain Virgil Goode’s lack of support, but I can only imagine that it has something to do with McCain not calling for the deportation of every Muslim in the country. Wonder what McCain did to Wolf and Forbes, though.
Are you a Democrat who’s having trouble explaining just why you’ll be voting for John McCain this fall? Are you tired of folks laughing at and ridiculing you because you can’t find the words? Katie Halper can help! She’s put together a number of handy loyalty oaths, specially tailored to your situation. For example:
The McCain Loyalty Oath for Women
I _____________ pledge to transfer my support from Hillary Clinton to John McCain. I agree to do all I can do to get McCain the vote. In order to achieve this noble goal I promise to support McCain’s…
* fight to overturn Roe v. Wade and my right to choose.
* fight against equal pay for men and women.
* opposition to providing low-income and uninsured women and families with health care services ranging from breast and cervical cancer screening to birth control.
* opposition to sex education and support of abstinence-only education.
* making birth control covered by insurance.
* endorsement of women’s rights more “in theory” than in practice.
* pet name for his wife.As a woman I promise to apply McCain’s principles to my own life and vow to…
* call myself and my female friends the C word.
* picket abortion clinics.
* not use contraceptives.
* drink bleachso I don’t catch HIV and drink Mountain due so I don’t get pregnant.
* give back part of my salary to male coworkers.
* not vote, but pursue education and encourage my father/husband/brother male friends to vote for McCain.Once McCain is elected, I will continue to support him and I will not complain about my losing my right to choose, and other reproductive freedoms. And I will continue to refrain from pursuing equality for women.
Sincerely,
Signature __________
See? All there in one place, for easy referral next time someone asks you how you could possibly vote for McCain. And don’t worry, all you gays and ignored straight white men, Katie’s got help for you, too. Good luck!
I try to avoid things that pin me down as a certain age, but this is something that nails me pretty well – I can’t hear this song without feeling some echo of the giddiness of 1992.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FZ1eX8x0QY[/youtube]
That said, I don’t think I’ve come across a more emotionally satisfying (both ahead of and after the election) video than this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm2OXQh3duI[/youtube]