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

Month: October 2008 Page 8 of 12

Help Fight Bigotry: Support the No on Prop 8 Campaign

As you may know, California’s constitutional right to marriage is under attack by the usual suspects in the form of a ballot initiative (called Proposition 8).   Vote No on Prop 8You may – like I did, until recently – think that it was a stunt that faced little chance of success.   That, unfortunately, isn’t true.  Big money has come from religious organizations (Mormon church, Knights of Columbus, etc.) and the latest polls have opinion standing 47-42 in favor of banning marriage equality in California.

California ballot initiatives are largely advertising campaign contests, which require an enormous amount of money in those media markets.  The money gap between both sides is substantial (perhaps because so many of us took Prop 8’s defeat for granted).  According to a recent email from MassEquality, “the anti-gay right has raised $25.4 million – that’s 10 million dollars more than our side.”  This has never been – and will not be – a place where I regularly promote donations.  But I’m hoping you’ll consider supporting the Vote No On Prop 8 efforts with a contribution of as little as $5 or with your time phone banking (you can do that from your own home – no need to be in California).  You can learn more about the campaign here.

So many campaigns that we already pour our time and money into can often feel as if they won’t make a much of a difference.  But this is important.  It’s an essential step to preserving one of the biggest steps forward in the pursuit of a more just and decent society.   Please help.

Where’s Wall Street?

TPM highlights this Steve Pearlstein piece on the near-complete absence of the leaders of Wall Street from the bailout process:

In putting several trillion dollars in government funds on the line, the country has now done just about everything that Wall Street could have asked to address the financial crisis. The question now, as John Kennedy might have put it, is what Wall Street is ready to do for its country. So far, the answer is not much.

After getting their closed-door briefing yesterday from Paulson on the government’s latest initiatives, Wall Street’s finest literally ran from the Treasury to their waiting limousines, bypassing a media scrum eager to convey any scrap of wisdom or insight.

[ . . . ]

Their silence and invisibility throughout this crisis attests to the moral and political bankruptcy of a financial elite that is the perfect match for the financial bankruptcy they have now visited upon their investors, their creditors and their customers.

Pretty much.  And remember, these are the same folks that the “free market” true believers will tell you ought to be left to their own devices, so (somehow) public good will result.

A Survey of Iranian Politics

Since we’re likely to end up with an administration whose foreign policy toward Iran doesn’t begin and end with “Hulk smash!”, understanding a bit more about the power structure of the country just might be more useful than knowing about its military capabilities.  This Foreign Affairs article is a good start down that road:

Ahmadinejad is only as powerful as he is devoted to Khamenei and successful at advancing his aims. Khamenei’s power is so great, in fact, that in 2004 the reformist Muhammad Khatami declared that the post of president, which he held at the time, had been reduced to a factotum. Blaming the country’s main problems on Ahmadinejad not only overstates his influence; it inaccurately suggests that Iran’s problems will go away when he does. More likely, especially regarding matters such as Iran’s foreign policy, the situation will remain much the same as long as the structure of power that supports the supreme leader remains unchanged.

It’s a long read, but well worth your time, I think.

A Headline You Don’t See Every Day

From the front page of the Guardian, right now:

FTSE 100 up more than 6% as president confirms America will follow Britain’s lead

And all it took was a near-complete meltdown of the financial systems!

In Search of *Better* Democrats

Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) is a Democrat I’d be entirely okay with seeing lose, next month.   My goal isn’t just Democrats in office – it’s better people* in office.

*Which, as a general rule, works out to be better Democrats.   In the end, even otherwise-decent Republicans like Connie Morella, Chris Shays, and Wayne Gilchrest voted to have moral midgets like Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay steer the national agenda.

Hank, Your Daddy Would

be ashamed of you.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULpsAXZT9G8[/youtube]

Mike suggests a much more on-point song by Hank:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U-H3hPYBmA[/youtube]

Belgium Sponsors DC Cyclocross

This is such a great story that I’m just going to cut and paste the press release without shame:  1801126844_deee674918_medium

The organizers of the October 26 City Bikes DCCX, the only cyclocross race held within the city limits of the U.S. Capital, have announced that their “Lil’ Belgians” Free Kids Race will actually be sponsored by the Belgian Embassy. “Lil’ Belgians” racing, a traditional part of every BikeReg.com MABRAcross event, is a free fun-race for young children that occurs just prior to the Elite races, and it’s not unusual to see Elite and Amateur racers “assisting” their training-wheel -equipped youngsters by pushing them around their own special course.

Until now, the Lil’ Belgians moniker had been just a cute tribute to the homeland of cyclocross. But at the City Bikes DCCX, Belgium will be involved in an official capacity as the Belgian Embassy will be offering all participating kids a special (and tasty) prize. The kids won’t be the only ones getting a tasty Belgian prize, however, because the City Bikes DCCX organizers will keep the Belgian ambience rolling by serving free Frites to riders and spectators alike. For more information, see BikeReg.com

(Oct 26th. I’ll be there (watching, not racing, I’m afraid.))

Virginia Earmarks Illustrated

This DNC tool – which lists specific projected proposed for Federal funds in Virginia that McCain voted against – is being promoted as an attack vector on McCain, but I think it’s kind of lame for that use.  Because really, most of these projects were almost certainly presented as parts of larger bills that had nothing to do with the listed project, and I’m not interested in perpetuating a fundamentally dishonest approach to attacking politicians for their votes.

But it is interesting to see what those oft-maligned earmarks are really for.  In my view, they’re not the best way of doing business.  But if you show people in a given district what their representatives are using them for?  I bet you’d find overwhelming support for Federal funding of each specific project, even while a good portion of the same people are decrying earmarks.  If you’re in Virginia, click around the map and check out the examples.  North Carolina residents can click here (there doesn’t seem to be any indexed list of these efforts – but if you live in a swing state, there’s probably a map available.  Just drop in your own state’s name in the URL to check.)

Riding the GW Parkway

Washcycle has an interesting review of whether or not one can legally ride on the George Washington Memorial Parkway.   It appears that it is not legal legal, but that hasn’t stopped Park Police from claiming otherwise (and occasionally citing people for it).   In the past year or so, I’ve taken to riding on the Parkway between Mt. Vernon and southern Alexandria, and have never been bothered by passing Park Police.  I have, however, garnered multiple fingers and honking horns from angry little men.  The road is very wide down there, and there’s plenty of room and easy sight-lines for everyone.    I wouldn’t say the same for the portion of the Parkway north of Arlington (that section and Rock Creek Parkway are probably the only roads in DC I’d never ride on).

Update: Allen Muchnick’s comment at the linked Washcycle post brings to light a recently updated set of regulations which appear to ban bikes from all parkways in the capital area.  How in the world a cyclist is expected to know about an unposted rule which is contrary to the law in the rest of the state is beyond me.

That Jeff Frederick, Such a Fine Young Man . . .

Jeff Frederick, recently-elected Chair of the Virginia Republican Party, thought it was a good idea to say that:

“both Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden have friends that have bombed the Pentagon. That is scary.”

Really.  That’s about as reasonable as saying both John McCain and Osama Bin Laden have killed civilians while furthering their political ambitions.   And of course, McCain “would have to look at the context” before he can really judge that remark.  But hey, Jeff’s just sayin’.   And Waldo’s rule about RPV choices just gets more and more evidentiary support.

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