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Politics, open government, and safe streets. And the constant incursion of cycling.

Month: July 2008 Page 4 of 8

Thanks, Ricco

By

On July 17, 2008

In Cycling, Society

Ricardo Ricco (winner of 2 TdF stages this year) popped for EPO. Shocker. So, Ricco, this is for you (NSFW, if the speakers are up):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqxnm6t3QMw[/youtube]

Credit to PdC for the video inspiration.

Update: So, why is it that I (and so many others) have such contempt for this guy, considering the doping ways of cycling heros past?  A commenter over at Podium Cafe put it very well. Hit the jump for a slightly edited version of it (and expect the kind of language you’d get moments after learning that someone just screwed the Tour):

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Screw America

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On July 17, 2008

In Law, Politics, Society

Screw America is apparently what Newsweek/National Journal’s Stuart Taylor thinks the President should do:

President George W. Bush ought to pardon any official from cabinet secretary on down who might plausibly face prosecution for interrogation methods approved by administration lawyers. (It would be unseemly for Bush to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney or himself, but the next president wouldn’t allow them to be prosecuted anyway—galling as that may be to critics.) The reason for pardons is simple: what this country needs most is a full and true accounting of what took place.

And then the next President should be complicit in the coverup:

The incoming president should convene a truth commission, with subpoena power, to explore every possible misdeed and derive lessons from it. But this should not be a criminal investigation, which would only force officials to hire lawyers and batten down the hatches.

As Sadly, No, puts it:

Yeah, I’m sure Gonzo, Addington and Yoo will be totally willing to tell you the truth about everything if you just promise them that we’ll throw the whole concept of justice down the shitter just to keep them feeling comfortable.

See, Stuart Taylor is laying the groundwork not only for W’s pardoning of every criminal in his administration, but also the partisan attack on Obama if he doesn’t defend W’s actions.  I’ve been worried about exactly that since Obama started looking like a viable candidate, and share Sadly, No’s take, unfortunately:

The sad thing is: I know Obama will do exactly as Taylor recommends. Except he won’t even bother to set up the fucking bogus-assed truth commission. Just sweep this shit under the rug and enjoy his newfound powers to issue warrantless wiretaps and torture orders. Oh, and be sure to give special immunity to people like Nancy Pelosi and Jay Rockfeller, who should also be tossed in the Hague for being complicit in all this bullshit. This isn’t about partisanship, peeps — it’s about restricting the ability of our political class to behave in the most reckless and lawless ways imagineable. If we don’t want to degenerate into a damn banana republic, we have to demonstrate that we won’t let our most powerful politicians get away with breaking the laws they’ve sworn to uphold.

I don’t think Obama would continue the torture, but otherwise, I’ll lay a marker down on this – this is exactly what will happen, barring huge public pressure to the contrary.  And we all know how reliable the American public is when it comes to matters of actual moral import.

Dr. Horrible, Pt. II

By

On July 17, 2008

In Distribution, Personal

Part II is up.

What’s this about? Oh, it’s about so many things, but I’ll let a nice and respectable paper summarize it for the uninitiated:

“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” is the creation of Joss Whedon, one of the best-known scribes in Hollywood, thanks to his long filmography of genre-bending TV hits: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,””Firefly” (which inspired the film “Serenity”), “Angel” and the upcoming Fox series “Dollhouse.”

[ . . . ]

The series stars Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”) as Dr. Horrible, a wannabe mad scientist who blogs about his unrealized dreams for world domination and his refused entry into to “Evil League of Evil.” For example, he’s working with a vocal coach on his maniacal laugh.

He’s an evildoer who’s just not very good at doing evil.

Plus, he sings.

Really. Check it out.

Midweek Makeover: Tomorrow, Wendy

By

On July 16, 2008

In Music

Going to make these a little shorter.  Today’s single cover is Concrete Blonde’s take on Andy Prieboy’s Tomorrow, Wendy. I wore the album (1990’s Bloodletting) out on tape and CD.

(You know, I’m not sure if this is exactly a cover. Andy Prieboy’s original featured vocals from Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano, who later decided to record this on her own.)

Someone on McCain’s Staff is Definitely Aware of the Internet

By

On July 16, 2008

In Politics, Tech

Smart.

Contraception = Abortion?

By

On July 16, 2008

In Law, Policy, Politics

I knew that we could expect some really ridiculous stuff getting shoveled out during the waning days of the Bush Administration, but this surprised even me.

The Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist

By

On July 15, 2008

In Cycling, DC, Virginia

WashCycle has a fantastic post up about the “Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist”:

In fact after Alice Swanson’s death, many comments on the post, DCist and elsewhere mentioned that something like this was bound to happen because of the illegal manner in which most cyclists ride. Despite the fact that there seems to be no indication that she did anything illegal.

Which leads to what I call “The Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist”.

Now then, I’m not trying to claim that cyclists don’t break the law. Let me state clearly and upfront, they do. What I’m saying is that there is nothing unique about the frequency with which cyclists as a class break the law when compared with drivers or pedestrians. And even if cyclists broke the law more flagrantly, that would not negate the need to share the road.

And then he goes on to knock down pretty much every piece of the scofflaw myth, fact by fact.  Very well done.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog – Act I

By

On July 15, 2008

In Personal

If you dig low-rent supervillians, don’t ask- just watch.

You’ll only be able to watch Act I until Sunday, July 20th.  Act II comes out this Thursday.

(Okay, you have questions.  Here’s the Master Plan.)

Murky Coffee: Meta Petty

By

On July 14, 2008

In DC, Distribution, Society, Virginia

This isn’t particularly noteworthy, other than it reminded me just how ubiquitous blogs have become (or – really – how ubiquitous they’ve become in a very narrow segment of society). Fuck You And Your Precious Coffee Policy This guy stopped in Murky Coffee (which is just down the street from me), the barista played to stereotype, and he wrote about it.  This other guy overheard the conversation between the first guy and the barista, and wrote about it, too. And then Boing Boing wrote about the first guy writing about it (which is where I first heard about it).  And now I’m writing about all three of them writing about it.  And using a picture that someone else took of the result of the conversation between the first guy and the barista.

All that effort, and none of us have contributed anything useful to the world, I’m afraid.

(FWIW, I’d trade Murky Coffee for the old junk shop that used to be there in a heartbeat.  And Murky Coffee should take that dollar bill down from the bulletin board and use it to pay their unpaid DC taxes.)

Update: Murky Coffee owner Nick Cho gets in on the clown bandwagon.

Photo: Tom Bridge

US Oil *Exports* Reaching Record Levels

By

On July 14, 2008

In Policy, Politics

A post to Dave Farber’s IP listserv just brought this to my attention:

While the U.S. oil industry wants access to more federal lands to help reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, U.S.-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries.

A record 1.6 million barrels a day in U.S. refined petroleum products were exported during the first four months of this year, up 33 percent from 1.2 million barrels a day over the same period in 2007. Shipments this February topped 1.8 million barrels a day for the first time during any month, according to final numbers from the Energy Department.

The surge in exports appears to contradict the pleas from the U.S. oil industry and the Bush administration for Congress to open more offshore waters and Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

I knew all the “Drill ANWAR Now!” clowns in the blogosphere were getting played for fools, but I didn’t realize just how foolish they really were.

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