My Letter To President Obama

I was so inspired by my buddy Kent's letter to Obama that I had to add one of my own.

Dear President Obama,

I'm very impressed with the Job you are doing also in the way you have confounded the chattering classes in Washington. Thanks for that, and congratulations on the stimulus bill. I suppose that you are finding a very "fun" level of intransigence but that you will continue to reach out to those with whom you disagree, just out of principle. I would not be so magnanimous but that's why I'm not President.

As I was reading about the big three auto makers need for more money in this quarter. It's a terribly vexing issue for me as there are so many working people who stand to be financially ruined. On the other hand, I haven't seen a GM or Chrysler product that I would want to buy since I was 12 (we all wanted a Corvette or Camaro back then but most of us grew out of that) and I feel like many people agree with me. If the Heartbeat of America is still beating, it has a pronounced murmur and very clogged arteries, a debilitating palsy, and a taste for bourbon whiskey.

GM's restructuring plan is particularly egregious and shows that they haven't been in the auto business for a long time. Cutting 47,000 additional workers is supposed to help matters? To whom exactly was GM planning to sell their cars. For an inspiring take on the matter, take a look at a very inspirational guy who may succeed you if the economy gets worse.

If the auto industry fails or is bought out by foreign producers, can we lower our slaven approach to subsidizing auto culture? Can we then tax cars as they are taxed in other industrialized countries to mitigate the huge burden they place on us? Can we truly look to other alternatives for transporting people that do not financially enslave them (in the name of freedom, no less), poison them, or endanger them and their very safety? Air and rail are statistical universes safer than private autos. In fact, people have become so innured to the risks that if somebody came up with a Star Trek style transporter that cost as much as cars do, that killed as often as cars do, nobody would use it because it would be too risky. Never the less, people drive cars because all the little personal choices associated with driving underline a personal freedom that is actually quite illusory.

If we are to continue with bailing out the auto industry, could the government at least take a stake in the businesses and start mandating production of mass transit and high speed rail? This change of operating procedure would come with a guaranteed $2-4/gallon fuel tax to completely revamp our transportation sector and change car buying habits, also funding mass transit projects across the country and inspiring people to walk, cycle, skateboard, and the like. Keep those poor people employed and really become the change you pay so much lip service to. That's a win win, as they say. Without a serious fuel tax, behavior will never change, and your presidency will never reach the level of change it purports to embody.

As for the financial sector, I have much less sympathy for those people. You are doing a great job seizing and nationalizing the banks and I am amused that this all started under the former administration. Now would be a great time to nationalize the insurance sector too so that we can easily mandate a single payer healthcare plan. If they need money too, well, by all means we should help them, but they should start helping us too, completely.

Now is the time to change entire sectors of the economy for the good of working people, not just monied interests. Don't let a perfectly good financial crisis go to waste.

Turkey Day Family Ride

George got this really fun idea of taking all the kids out on a little bike ride on Thanksgiving and who am I not to show up if can't help it? We invited some extra people, some of whom, Steve, Sumer, Kathleen, my sister Patricia, Yaroslav, Rob, Sara, their friends, and our kids: L, C, P, L, J, T, and 3 (trust me, that's a real person but you have to use the cyrillic alphabet to spell that name).

The course took us from the Ballard Fred Meyer out to the ocean, or that is, Golden Gardens city park through a very quiet Ballard and then the new section of the Burke Gilman Trail.

Here are some photos of the kids: L & C: (and Yaroslav, George Arminda, and Kathleen).











Here we see Steve, George, Kathleen, C, L, and Sumer prepping for the return trip wherein the fine tail wind we enjoyed on the way out will somehow seek to destroy us as we turn about face.









P & L, not sure what their parents have gotten themselves into. Yes, they are twins.












And finally, T & 3 who have just been bought off with some granola snacks. J somehow eluded my camera for this ride.










We rode down to the park, brought some goodies, let sleeping children sleep, and then rode back when critical mass felt upon us. Have I mentioned that the people depicted here are the some of the nicest I know?

An Inadvertant Tour Of Southeast Bainbridge Island

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2402209

Add to that 5 miles round trip from my house to the ferry dock, and you have a great way to spend a morning with Kent and Matt.

Photos are found here.

Here's the kicker. If you go out on a foggy day with two cyclers who are crazier than you are, and by the way, you are pretty crazy, and your 18 month old son has just enough toys and the like to make it through a morning, then, oh, did I mention that it's foggy? Then you have the ingredients to a good day.

Claire went to work especially early and Thorvald was up with her so we decided to make the most of it. Kent had set up a ride on Bainbridge Island which is my favorite place to ride because it involves a ferry, is literally inches from Seattle (you get on a boat, and then you get off a boat), and transports you to a rather tranquil version of exurbia where you can cycle to your heart's contentment, enjoy the ups and down of the hills, and are never more than 20 minutes from a coffee shop.

The rub arises however when those two crazy cyclers hold the map and then refuse to look at it, even though it's taped to their handlebars. This sounds much worse than it is, for if we had slavishly adhered to the map, we never would have found out where The Country Club of Seattle is (keep turning left from the ferry and look out for the dogs). We also never would have found the beautiful shangri-La at the end of Toe Jam Hill.

The best moment was finding out that we were going exactly south when it felt like north, realizing that we had a very sketchy downhill replete with wet leaves, and then from the confines of the bike trailer I hear "Daddy?". It was so precious, more so when Kent and Matt realized right there why they were waiting for me on the hills. I'll get Thorvald pedaling soon enough. For now he's just along for the ride and game as long as I stop when he wants. That's a good deal as far as I'm concerned.

Kent's write up on the ride is wonderful and he really does climb like a mountain goat, but when they were tired of waiting, they sent me on Fort Ward Hill and Blakely Hill while they hugged the shore and what I now understand was the shortcut. Hmmmmm...... They really are great friends. Really.

The next time I go over there, I'm leaving time for the visit to the bike shop. Wouldn't you?

Bailing out the Auto Industry

I was just thinking about the hearings today and had a thought. If the domestic automakers were to be allowed to fail and were perhaps bought up by foreign companies, we would see even less political support for cars and car infrastructure than we do today. Perhaps with no major domestically owned auto companies (plenty of foreign owned companies have production here, typically in non-unionized or hard to unionize sections of the country), we might find larger support for mass transit, rail, cycling, walking, and the infrastructure improvements that would improve those options.

That said, I'm for a bailout, if only because it's much cheaper than the costs associated with letting them fail including, depression in the upper midwest, which just voted strongly for Obama (hello lefties!), destruction of the parts industries that feed into the auto makers including mining electrical, and others, and of course, a cleaning out of one of the most unionized sections of the country. The UAW has been a leader in worker rights in this century and though none of us have the benefits of an autoworker, we all benefit from their contracts when it comes to weekends, vacation pay, etc.

It's also telling that the senator working hardest against the bailout is Richard Shelby of Alabama who has factories in his state owned by Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, and Hyundai; none of which are unionized, but must pay at least competitively thanks to union contracts negotiated by the UAW. Take away that support and what will happen? It's not like Senator Shelby is pro union. He is pro Alabama, whatever that means.

Fake out ride 2008

It was a super nice day out today and so at around 4:20, I wrote everyone to see if they wanted to go out for an early autumn ride. I got some takers, so we decided to meet at 5 PM at the sculpture park. After I left, Steve wrote to say he would be late, and Ryan wrote to say he would be later. I didn't get the second post. I did catch that George was inviting people over for another girls night out. I wrote to say that I would meet him for the date. You can see where this is going.

Steve came up and being as it was 12 after, we waited for just a minute and took off. Steve was offering hot apple cider if we rode to his house and I was more than happy to take him up on it. We got along on our path and arrived at Steve's (5:50), and I found a message on my phone. We had left Ryan. Ryan I am so sorry about this and you were so nice about us ditching you. Faked out!

Steve welshed on the apple cider and instead served us hot chocolate. Faked out II!
Editor's note: Thorvald enjoyed playing with the Evans kids and the hot chocolate was just great.

George was nowhere to be found when I arrived at his house at 7. He had taken off already and was miles away at some restaurant. Fake out III!

I rode home on 15th, over the bridge, taking the whole lane, Thorvald chirping along, and we were home by 7:30.

Editor's note: George and the girls came over and we played and played.

Hey, hey, it's a Saturday night!

It's guy's night out in Seattle as the coolest dads in the world get together for burgers, biking and showing the kids a good time. First up, we have George, Lucy, and Charlotte on bike number one, tearing it up and looking very Dutch. If anyone could take a tobogan, strap it to a bicycle, and create a revolution, it would be somebody from northern Europe. These bikes are fun to ride and seem to ride best with some weight in the front. Thanks to Lucy and Charlotte for providing the much needed ballast and for being very fun and helpful to the smaller boys.


And here are the aforementioned smaller boys. I was missing a trailer for this ride because I was set up for cello hauling instead of baby hauling so I took advantage of the excess capacity found in
Rob's trailer and shoehorned
Thorvald in with Jasper.




And we're off, cruising down Market. Yeah, my posse's on Market.... Baby!(s)







This in no way condones or approves of our failed attempts to get Thorvald to wear a helmet. Jasper has accepted them and Rob and Sarah should be congratulated for their due diligence. Still, it's fun to see the boys playing. They rode most of the ride each with a hand on that little train car. Detente.




And here, George wins the reflective war, sporting lights with reflectors, and reflective tires. I didn't get to mention earlier because of poor picture taking but also pictured are Steve and Asher who showed us their awesome downhill and climbing skills at the locks. Pictured from left to right: Rob, Thorvald, Jasper (both in trailer), Lucy, Charlotte, George, Steve, and Asher.

Today's Route

This route was what got me to the auto shop twice, then to two different schools and back home, all on a bike today. It was a little long for an aluminum fixie, but what the heck, it was fun.

The car got me to and from the auto shop. The bike, everywhere else.