Activist. Vegan. Cyclist. Parent. (Almost) Criminal defense attorney.

∞ MPG

What is it going to take to get people to realize that bicycling is a practical and effective alternative to driving? And why does the Right see fit to attack cycling? This is the second assault on cycling we've seen in a week by Republicans. Is it because their benefactors, oil conglomerates, only make a tiny bit of money off of bicyclists? Seriously.

Okay, enough of the rant, now for the actual news bit.

The Secretary of Transporation claims that bike paths are not transportation infastructure.

Speaking from personal experience one of the major discouragements from bike commuting is vehicular traffic. It definitely is intimidating the first few times you take to the streets on a bike only to be confronted with speeding cars and oversized pick up trucks. That being said, in an age where riding a bicycle is better for your health and the environment it makes sense to encourage people to ride them and so it follows that bike paths would be the next logical step.

I guess, I'm making the assumption, however, that we all agree that bicycling is more than just a hobby. Well, Secretary Peters, I'm here to tell you there are lots of people getting by on their bikes. We strive to survive car-free. We will not be slaves to the prices at the pumps. We may not be many, but our time is coming.

T-shirt courtesy of Portland's own, Microcosm Publishing.

File under D for Duh!

According to a CNN poll, 57% of people in the US believe President Bush is a failure. Slightly fewer, 55%, believe the Democratic Congress has been a failure.

This is simply more evidence that low voter turn out is a semi-conscious attempt by the citizenry to abstain from the electoral process.

I'm anti-Coldplay too.

When I was bartending several years ago I picked up a few things. If you're ever sitting around talking with friends, family or complete strangers and someone says, "...and then we started drinking Jagermeister..." you need to stop, and pay attention to that story. Whatever they were saying before is irrelevant, I can almost guarantee that that story is only getting better.

I say all of that to say, this story out of Seattle, is hilarious:

SEATTLE -- Perhaps it was the lyric "I jumped across for you, oh what a thing to do," that inspired a Seattle woman to attack a man belting out Coldplay's song "Yellow" in a bar.

Employees at Changes Bar and Grill in the city's Wallingford neighborhood said the woman leaped at the karaoke singer when she heard the song Thursday night, telling the man that he "sucked" before she pushed and punched him to make him stop singing.

"It took three or four of us to hold her down," bartender Robert Willmette told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

When she was escorted outside, the 21-year-old woman "went crazy" Willmette said, throwing punches at him and others, including an off-duty police officer.

Patrol officers and Gang Unit detectives then arrived at the neighborhood bar and blocked off the street, which inflamed the woman's rage even more, a police report said. Before police could handcuff the woman she headbutted the off-duty officer at least two times.

The off-duty officer was treated for several cuts, scrapes and bruises.

After treatment for injuries, the woman was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of assault. She was also held on a warrant issued for a previous theft charge.

According to bartender notes, she only had a single shot of Jagermeister.

Via Jack Bog's Blog.

First Appointment

Two weeks ago Laura and I met with Laura and Debbie, our midwife and midwife intern, respectively. They will both attend the birth and provide most of Laura's prenatal care. The appointment took place in one of the birthing rooms. I may have mentioned before that they are essentially large bedrooms with a bed, a birthing tub, and full bathroom attached. We sat on the sofa and talked about Laura's diet and how she's been feeling over the past few months and weeks. At the time she was just over 12 weeks along and so is now in the second trimester. Once all of the paperwork was out of the way, they took some blood and checked on the baby. It's obviously still very early, but they checked the heart rate and everything seems fine. We're excited to do a sonogram in a few more weeks and our next appointment with Laura is in September. Also, a couple of days ago Debbie called Laura to tell her that her blood work came back fine. She is healthy and not anemic and not in any sort of high-risk category.

I'm also not sure if I mentioned that we talked to her about Laura being vegan. Her (Laura E., the midwife) only concern was that we not get into a rut with what we eat. In her experience she's seen many vegans eat the same things over and over again rather than varying their diet. Other than that she didn't seem concerned about it. As long as we make sure that she's getting plenty of protein in different ways, and eating well otherwise it's not a huge concern. Laura has always eaten well so it really isn't much of a concern. There hasn't been any sickness or strange cravings. Occasionally Laura will not like hummus, normally a favorite, and has come to dislike black beans. For someone who likes any and all vegetables, legumes and fruits, its strange to see her suddenly become anti-black bean.

We also spoke with her about the bicycling. She said it was really good and that should Laura just pay attention to her body and listen to when she needs to change her saddle or stop altogether. Many of the things I've read say that many women continue to be able to ride their bikes late into the pregnancy. And fortunately, it's a pretty low impact activity, so it's not too hard on Laura's knees or anything. We actually had a small collision the other day. It was totally my fault, and Laura got a little scraped up, but nothing serious. I think she was mostly just shaken up. Several people actually stopped and asked if she was okay. Laura, of course, brushed off any help and after shaking off the initial surprise was able to laugh at my clumsiness.

We are almost entirely moved into our new home in southeast Portland. It's a cozy basement apartment with an attached art studio. This is actually really convenient because Laura's studio/workspace is closing soon. Some corporation has bought the building and is raising rents in order to force the tenants out so they can make the neighborhood safe for yuppies and build some condos or another Starbucks. (Sorry, it's a sore spot around here.) Our housemates are really great. They're a couple originally from Houston, who just bought the house in April. One is a law student at the Univ. of Oregon and her partner is a student at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine. They're really sweet. There is another housemate, Mark, whom we have not met, but will be back this month. We are close to a couple of great grocery stores, and a park with a public swimming pool. We aren't as close to the birthing center as we would've liked, but we're close enough.

I think that's all I can think of right now.

Why I love biking

Laura and I had a small collision on Saturday. She actually fell and
got a little scraped up. She's okay, but was definitely a little
shaken up. I did not fall, but my bike took a little damage. Somehow
my rear wheel got caught so hard that the axle inside the hub on my
rear wheel broke. Anyway, long story short I spent about 30 minutes
yesterday fixing it. There are very few things as satisfying as
taking a broken bike, getting dirty fixing it and then riding it.
Better still, it rides better than it did before the accident.

Reason #428 why I'm giving up on the system

First, the Senate renews the wire-tap law. Bush threatens to veto, so they give him the exact version of the bill he wanted. It doesn't surprise me, but it frustrates me. On Saturday, Congress passed H.R. 1498 which included a $20/month tax credit for bicycle commuters. It's not much, but it's something. Thanks. Who knew y'all were actually paying attention. But on the floor "debates" Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-10th NC) made a speech that leaves me without words. An excerpt:

A major component of the Democrats’ energy legislation and the Democrats’ answer to our energy crisis is, hold on, wait one minute, wait one minute, it is promoting the use of the bicycle.

Oh, I cannot make this stuff up. Yes, the American people have heard this. Their answer to our fuel crisis, the crisis at the pumps, is: Ride a bike.

Democrats believe that using taxpayer funds in this bill to the tune of $1 million a year should be devoted to the principle of: “Save energy, ride a bike.”

Some might argue that depending on bicycles to solve our energy crisis is naive, perhaps ridiculous. Some might even say Congress should use this energy legislation to create new energy, bring new nuclear power plants on line, use clean coal technology, energy exploration, but no, no.

They want to tell the American people, stop driving, ride a bike. This is absolutely amazing.

Apparently, the Democrats believe that the miracle on two wheels that we know as a bicycle will end our dependence on foreign oil. I cannot make this stuff up. It is absolutely amazing.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the Democrats, promoting 19th century solutions to 21st century problems. If you don’t like it, ride a bike. If you don’t like the price at the pumps, ride a bike.

Stay tuned for the next big idea for the Democrats: Improving energy efficiency by the horse and buggy.

I can't believe this guy is a member of the United States House of Representatives. Actually, I take that back, I can. I can believe it and that, dear readers, is what saddens me. The bicycle is, arguably, one of, if not the most efficient complex machine ever created.

Regardless, my question for Rep. McHenry is this: what's your solution? Rather than telling us why something is a bad idea, give us a better idea. This is the problem with politics, repeating what's wrong vs. talking about solutions.