Blacknell.net

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

3 Feet to Pass Fails in the VA House

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On February 16, 2010

In Cycling, Law, Virginia

Due in no small part, I’m sure, to the urgings of Delegates Cosgrove & Carricco, the Virginia House of Delegates voted down HB 1048, which provided that motorists should give cyclists three feet when passing. This is very disappointing. The Virginia Bike Federation notes that there is still some hope, in the form of SB 566:

Senate Bill 566 containing just Three Foot Passing is still alive, and will be crossing over to the House Transportation Committee and then, hopefully, to the Full House, in the near future.

As soon as the roll call voting is posted I will forward it along and will urge everyone to contact their delegates expressing disappointment if they voted Nay and thanking them if they voted For the bill. Hopefully, we may be able to turn at least 6 or 7 votes around and get SB 566 passed.

I’ll post that list here, when I have it. I’d really – personally – appreciate any action that readers can take on the bill’s behalf.

Bing’s Mapping Projects

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On February 14, 2010

In Distribution, Tech

I really had no idea that Bing was doing any of this.


I’m in awe. It makes me want to create a million things.

Virginia’s 3 Feet to Pass Cyclists Law Up for Final Vote in House

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On February 12, 2010

In Cycling, Law, Politics, Virginia

The always helpful Virginia Bicycling Federation reports that the proposed “3 feet to pass” bill, which provides that cars must give cyclists at least three feet of clearance when passing them, made it out of committee.  Barely:

After being reported out of Sub Committee yesterday by a 5-2 vote, HB1048, 3 foot passing & following too close, was reported out of the full House Transportation Committee this morning by a very tight 11-10 vote. Since the vote was electronically tallied and then taken down rather quickly, I’m not sure exactly who voted each way, but it appeared that all the D’s voted for the bill, joined by two or three R’s (which I think included Oder & Rust).

As in Sub Committee, there was even more discussion of how difficult it would be with the additional foot to legally pass a bicycle without going over the double center line on a two lane road. The strongest anti-cycling sentiment was expressed by Del. Cosgrove of Chesapeake, Del. Knight of Virginia Beach, who clearly voted against the bill, along with Del. Villanueva of Va Beach, even though the representative of that City and Bruce Drees of the Tidewater Bicycling Assn. both spoke in favor of it.

Remember, the Virginia Senate has already passed this bill, and it is an unlikely veto target.  So all that stands between this sensible idea becoming law is the Virginia House of Delegates.  VBF asks:

Now its on to the Full House floor (either on Saturday or Monday), where Chairman Joe May of Loudon (who also appeared to vote against the bill) wished our patron, Kaye Kory, a good-natured “Good luck on the floor” after he announced the result of the voting.

Now, we need EVERYONE to contact their delegate. If you don’t know who it is, you can find out at the VA General Assembly’s Who’s My Legislator page…

http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

Please take a few minutes to do this, even if you think you live in the district of someone who will certainly vote for it.  It would be a shame to get so close to success, yet lose because of a bit of complacency.

Midweek Makeover: Belinda!

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On February 12, 2010

In Music

As as been noted before, we do not take requests.  However, we occasionally indulge.  Someone has been going on about the lack of coverage here, of late.  So be careful what you ask for:

Belinda!  Nice poppy sugary goodness.

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

(Makes me think of exactly this spot on earth, btw)

So what do you do with an easy pop hit like that?

If you’re some cheaply assembled trio like Ultra Flirt, you mangle it:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH3Psq7Z90Y&NR=1[/youtube]

Or if you’re some outfit named “Virus, Inc.”, you borrow a vocoder, try to copy Eric Prydz, and nearly kill it:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMgU1x88kqw[/youtube]

But thankfully, somehow, there are always a cappella groups like the Euphonics to keep it on life support:

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

The Things You Learn From Considering Zombie Attacks

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On February 11, 2010

In Society

Was joking earlier today, in the context of protecting ourselves from imaginary threats, about planning for zombie attacks.  And then came across this review of a zombie-centric comic series that raised a rather real question:

What makes The Walking Dead so compelling to me is the way it asks you to decide, over and over again, do you bug-out (get away with your loved ones) or bug-in (help your neighbors and let them help you), or both? I’ve always hoped that I’d be a bug-in person, that in a disaster I’d work for the mutual aid of everyone. But bugging in works best if the rest of the world does it with you — a few selfish buggers-out shatter the social bonds that make it possible for the most people to survive a terminal prisoner’s dilemma. But even for us bug-in types, Kirkman wants us to ask ourselves, how far will you go? Who gets to come inside the shelter with you, and who gets left outside to die?

This isn’t a Choose Your Own Adventure exercise.  It’s much more:

This is the kind of ethical question that underpins our responses to everything from humanitarian crises like the one in Haiti to the health-care debate to immigration and refugee policy. It’s at the core of racism and sexism, at the core of xenophobia and discrimination. In its most extreme form, it can give rise to horrors like the American eugenics movement or Naziism, but who among us doesn’t have a secret kernel of it lurking in our breast?

John Cole (Re)Writes a Play

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On February 11, 2010

In Personal, Policy, Politics

John Cole does a fantastic job of speculating on exactly what would happen if Congress were to attempt to fix something that most of the population would agree should be fixed – that AmeriCorps stipends should be sufficient enough that members don’t need to rely on food stamps.

I’d describe his post as amusing, except 1) I think it’s *exactly* how such an effort would play out and 2) it tracks pretty much how the GOP machine reacted to AmeriCorps in 1994-1995.  It’s the same clowning, over and over.  It’s always going to be politics, and not policy.

Groundhog Day

By

On February 10, 2010

In Policy, Society

As the email passing this one on put it, you half laugh when you start reading, and then this really uneasy feeling starts settling in . . .

Del. Mark Cole: “I just think you should have the right to control your own body.”

By

On February 10, 2010

In Politics, Virginia

Del. Mark Cole’s apparent newfound respect for the right to privacy is just the tip of the amusement, here:

The House of Delegates is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that would protect Virginians from attempts by employers or insurance companies to implant microchips in their bodies against their will.

It might also save humanity from the antichrist, some supporters think.

Del. Mark L. Cole (R-Fredericksburg), the bill’s sponsor, said that privacy issues are the chief concern behind his attempt to criminalize the involuntary implantation of microchips. But he also said he shared concerns that the devices could someday be used as the “mark of the beast” described in the Book of Revelation.

Gosh, more lunacy from a Virginia Republican.  Who ever would have guessed it?  But the story raises concerns about a Democrat, too:

Del. Robert H. Brink (D-Arlington) said on the House floor that he did not find many voters demanding microchip legislation when he was campaigning last fall: “I didn’t hear anything about the danger of asteroids striking the Earth, about the threat posed by giant alligators in our cities’ sewer systems or about the menace of forced implantation of microchips in human beings.”

Reading that, it kinda makes me wonder if Bob’s not adequately prepared for a zombie attack.  Folks are supposed to take imaginary dangers seriously in Virginia, you know.

Updated to add link I originally left out.

At Least We Saw Blue Sky . . .

By

On February 10, 2010

In DC

Lincoln Memorial in the snow

Public Wisdom

By

On February 10, 2010

In Politics, Society

Jacob Weisberg, as part of the recent multi-party conversation on “liberal condescension”, identifies a point of central importance:

In trying to explain why our political paralysis seems to have gotten so much worse over the past year, analysts have rounded up a plausible collection of reasons including: President Obama’s tactical missteps, the obstinacy of congressional Republicans, rising partisanship in Washington, the blustering idiocracy of the cable-news stations, and the Senate filibuster, which has devolved into a super-majority threshold for any important legislation. These are all large factors, to be sure, but that list neglects what may be the biggest culprit in our current predicament: the childishness, ignorance, and growing incoherence of the public at large.

Whose fault? Our fault.

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