Politics are depressing nowadays.

I haven't posted much in the political realm recently. Mostly because I am depressed. The lack of any focus on jobs and recovery coupled with the deficit mania is infuriating. I also have a strong interest in environmental causes. I would love to see an investment in green technology and a carbon tax. Yet most of the news on these fronts is quite bad. I know that there was some progress on health care but I don't understand why I should be happy about moderate republican policies from the '70s instead of progressive policies geared to our current challenges.

I also have no confidence in our leaders to fight against the Republican suicide squad in office and in our media. I fear that riots and anarchy will end up coming to the US if we don't make some changes now.

Crashes and how it is always the cyclists fault

(Photo: Wash. Co. Sheriff)
A crash occurred in Washington County, OR. I used to live in that county. A pickup plowed into three cyclists from the rear on NW West Union Road about 1/2 mile east of the intersection with Jackson Quarry Road. Immediately the blame patrol works to blame the victims. Even with the picture to the right where one of the mountainbikes was embedded in the grill of the truck.

So we have a rear end collision. If it were a motor vehicle crash, the guy hitting from the rear is automatically at fault, but with bicycles it is all about how to blame the victim. Even though the pickup was going too fast for his headlights and driving too fast for conditions (by definition, he hit three cyclists). Everyone is already upset that the cyclists didn't have lights. Now sure, they probably should have, but they aren't required to and there is evidence that it wouldn't have made a difference. Because the driver hit THREE cyclists, one hard enough to embed the bike into the grill of his vehicle.

I understand why cyclists would want to review the situation to address what they could do better. But in no way should that have impact on who is at fault. The law is clear, cyclists are required to have rear reflectors. The bikes had those reflectors and studies have shown that reflectors are often better than lights in the cases where auto lights are very bright and wash out rear lights of the bike. With many cars running super bright LEDs now, it is important to have some reflectors facing backward. Reflectors are brighter under bright lights.

In the end the motorist outran his headlights or was not paying attention. Given the impact evident in the picture I suspect he wasn't paying attention. I am infuriated that the cyclists are in critical condition and paying the price for the motorists error. Additionally I can't abide how everyone wants to blame the cyclists who are the victims and give the motorist the benefit of the doubt. Our legal system posits innocent until proven guilty, but that doesn't mean that our outrage and frustration are required to wait for proof as well.


(source: bikeportland)

Republican's and Science

Dougj from Balloon Juice wants to kill the idea that Republican's are anti-science. Unfortunately for him this goes to one a series of simple empirical tests.

1- Which party reliably attacks science?
2- Which party funds scientific endeavors?
3- Which party support religion vs science?


1- Which party reliably attacks science?

Republican's have a long history of attacking science. In Texas they are trying to remove scientific discoveries from textbooks. There is an entire industry that is dedicated to attacking climate science. The history of pro-tobacco misinformation is very illustrating here as well. Some Democrats do have a history of falling for health cons and the anti-vaccine craze infected both Democrats and Republicans. This category is given to Republicans.


2- Which party funds scientific endeavors?

The race to the moon which JFK supported has paid dividends for the US. We have a large number of satellites that are vital to our communication technology today. Look at the funding history for NASA and physics in this country. You will see Democrats paying for the essential research that fuels our economy. Republicans sometimes appreciate engineers but only when the Republican in question is investing in a company that employs that engineer.

3- Which party support religion vs science?

Doug wanted to dodge this question.

First off, I’ll admit there is some real hostility to science from the fundies. But I don’t think that conservative opposition to stem cell research is rooted in hostility to science, it’s rooted in the (admittedly non-scientific belief) that Jeebus loves 5-celled blastocysts as much or more than he loves post-birth human beings

Christianity has been attacking science since Galileo. Astronomy, Cosmology, Biology, Climate Science, and Medicine have all been targets of Christianity. This isn't limited to the recent Catholic belief that all sperm are sacred, it is a full frontal assault on knowledge. Republicans are the political party of choice for the religious Christians in this country. It is one of the ways Republicans use to control the downtrodden.

To sum up, it is pretty obvious that Republicans are the enemies of science. Any professional scientist would shun Republican leadership out of simple self-preservation. Engineers are a different animal and at engineering schools you often hear the joke that business majors are just second year engineering majors. The joke is that when you fail at engineering there is always business school. But the meat behind it is that you go to school for engineering when you want money, you major in physics or math for a love of science. It is pretty clear why you might see engineers in the Republican party.

Fuck 'em

Today some asshole yelled "Get off the road!" at me while I was riding to work. Now you may or may not know but the "approved" method of dealing with this is to just put your head down and take it. Personally I am tired of this crap and tired of the complete lack of empathy when a cyclist gets yelled at then hit or whatever. The standard response is to ask what the cyclist did wrong to deserve such attention. Or maybe some other cyclist did something that apparently means that I need to be punished for.

Well in my case it is very clear. I yelled "Fuck you" right back at the asshole. And I am tired of all the "blame the victim" chatter that always gets offered up when a cyclist or pedestrian gets hit by a car. So to all the enablers and assholes out there "Fuck you" too.

Just a fed up rant from an Ex-NYer.