Blacknell.net

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

Month: September 2008 Page 4 of 11

Cyclists: Lights, Please!

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On September 22, 2008

In Cycling

Even though it breaks my summer-loving heart just to mention it, it’s getting darker earlier.   This sneaks up on a lot of cyclists every year, but I suspect it will hit a lot of the new riders this year.  So, please, a gentle reminder – if there’s even the slightest chance you’re going to be out on the road after 7p (as of today, anyway), please light up.  It doesn’t have to be an expensive HID kit.  Knogs will do.  But you need something.

Update: Thanks to GamJams.net for the nod. Of course,  I now wish I’d been a little more useful with the lighting links (like this or this), but all you folks coming here now probably already know what you need.  I hope you’ll look around a bit (I just put up a load of shots from Sunday’s ING Direct Capital Criterium, including the 35+ and 1/2/3 races)  And I’ll just take one more sentence to thank Mike for his tireless efforts at building community in the MABRA region.

The McCain Campaign: Lies from Lying Liars

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On September 22, 2008

In Politics

This just makes me smile:

Sen. John McCain’s top campaign aides convened a conference call today to complain of being called “liars.” They pressed the media to scrutinize specific elements of Sen. Barack Obama’s record.

But the call was so rife with simple, often inexplicable misstatements of fact that it may have had the opposite effect: to deepen the perception, dangerous to McCain, that he and his aides have little regard for factual accuracy.

[A]s he went on to list a series of stories he thought reporters should be writing about Obama and Biden, in almost every instance he got the details wrong.

Gosh. Who would have thought?

Sunday Morning

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On September 21, 2008

In DC, Personal

Sunday Morning

Watch the Capital Criterium Live and Online

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On September 21, 2008

In Cycling, DC

Looks like the ING Direct Capital Criterium will have a live internet feed.  Click here around 11:15am EDT.  Check out my preview over at Podium Cafe for details.   Photos and more after the race.

The Bailout: Mindboggling

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On September 20, 2008

In Law, Policy

And I’m not talking about the numbers (those are merely incomprehensible).  I’m talking about the fact that Congress seems poised to – yet again – hand the Bush administration carte blanche to deal with a critical threat, with no apparent thought to the impact.  NPR’s Planet Money blog notes:

I would guess that this has to be one of the biggest peacetime transfers of power from Congress to the Administration in history.

[ . . . ]

The Treasury Secretary can buy broadly defined assets, on any terms he wants, he can hire anyone he wants to do it and can appoint private sector companies as financial deputies of the US government. And he can write whatever regulation he thinks are needed.

[ . . . ]

This graph really stands out:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Whoa.

So, for the next three months, and then an additional six months after that, the Treasury Secretary can do anything he deems appropriate without anybody anywhere looking it over.

That seems like an awful lot of absolute power.

And that doesn’t even get to the merits of the matter.  For that, we have Paul Krugman, who sums it up as: no deal.  (I also recommend following Calculated Risk on this subject.)  This is happening quickly, and perhaps the radio reports of Congressional willingness to move forward with this bill in this form were optimistic.  I have to hope so.  We all do.

Hey Ma

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On September 19, 2008

In Music, Personal, Society, UK

No Weekend Music edition tonight.  I spent the day at a legal forum in which various legal responses to terrorism were discussed.  Some of the discussion was quite informative, and others less so.  But that all sort of faded next to the reminder that I got of the fact that so many people (in power and otherwise) have long since stopped understanding the human costs of their actions.

This is James’ Hey Ma.  I warn you – it’s not an easy thing to watch.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdYFOABd1DM[/youtube]

Alabama Voter Caging

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On September 19, 2008

In Politics

Literally.

(This surprised me in a number of ways.)

Friday Notes: Kitchen Sink Edition

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On September 19, 2008

In Personal

Things have been piling up this week, and I’m just going to have to clean off the shelf labeled “Write About” lest I get buried:

Charlie Rangel has not been having a good year – even got his car towed from the Capitol.  As much as it pains me to say it (I’ve always enjoyed his style), I wonder whether it might be getting time to call it a day.

~

The RIAA attempts to create a black hole of irony by complaining that an opposing lawyer is engaging in sham litigation tactics.

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An interesting graphic comparison of the costs of firing a 20 year employee, sorted by country.

~

Mike May shares an excellent analysis of what Lance Armstrong’s return to racing will mean to amateur racing.  I think his observations about local sponsorship are spot on.

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Matthew Yglesias is gives us the most recent edition of explaining the perverse political incentives that result from the electoral college.

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Earlier this month, I wrote about Palin speechwriter/animal rights advocate (no, really) Matthew Scully.  This fellow isn’t terribly impressed with Mr. Scully.

~

283,000 newly registered voters in Virginia this year.  That is good news for everyone.

Sunday: ING Capital Criterium (A Pro Cycling Event in DC!)

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On September 19, 2008

In Cycling, DC, Personal

This Sunday, consider heading down to Penn Quarter to see the ING Direct Capital Criterium. The pro race, which will feature stars like Christian Vande Velde, Freddie Rodriguez, and Rahsaan Bahati (the reigning US pro crit champion), starts at 11:30.   It’ll take place on a six turn 1km circuit that winds its way among the Federal agencies downtown.  This makes for easy viewing and constant action.  It is, of course, free.

course map

Honestly, we’re getting  a much higher quality field than I expected, given how recently this was announced. Christian Vande Velde will be joined by Garmin-Chipotle teammates and fellow Tour de France riders Will Frischkorn and Danny Pate.  I’m not sure if we’ll see the Rock Racing teammates of Freddie Rodrigeuz and  Rashaan Bahati.  Also of note are Symmetrics’ Eric Wohlberg, Kelly Benefits’ Alex Candelario, and Toyota United’s Dominique Rollin.

There are, of course, impressive cyclists who’ve been racing in the DC area all summer.  If you want to see some of that, show up a little earlier – the men’s 35+ race starts at 8am, and the men’s 1/2/3 (top amateurs) rolls at 9am.

Rahsaan Bahati

Finally, this race has something to offer kids – there’s a kids’ ride/”race” running at 10:30a that will give kids (ages 3-11, seperated out into age groups) a chance to hit the same course that the pros are on.  And if the sheer excitement of that isn’t enough, the first three hundred kids to register (see the site to do it online) will get free ING jerseys and helmets.

I’ll be down there all day, and hope that some of you can make it, too.  If you know anyone who may be interested, please pass this along – it would be great to see a large turnout that would convince the race sponsors to stick around and make this a regular DC event.

Where’s Jim Webb?

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On September 18, 2008

In Politics, Virginia

Jim Webb’s head just showed up on my TV screen, during the Rachel Maddow Show.  “Finally,” I thought,”He’s going to come out swinging for Obama!”.  Umm,  no.  He was there to defend retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel, in the way of his comments about Palin’s incompetence.  And while that’s a completely honorable thing to do, I still have to wonder – where’s Jim Webb?  He’s the one who was hailed at the great white hope for Democrats in Virginia.  So why is it that it’s Terry Freakin’ McAuliffe that’s going on a tour of Virginia (ostensibly in support of Obama, but mostly to find out that the idea of him running for governor is a complete joke)?  I know Virginia’s Democrats have a tradition of identifying themselves as anything *but* Democrats, but this is getting ridiculous . . .

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