Today's Ride

Took me to one of the local historical sites, the Ada Covered Bridge.

One of the nice things about biking is that it is easy to find the things you might miss if you were in a car.


The Ada covered bridge was built in 1867 across the Thornapple river, connecting one side of the town of Ada with the other.



I guess it's not a big attraction per se, but it is rather pretty.



One has to turn off the main roads to get to it and it has a little park connected to it. It's a nice place to have a bite to eat, or just to rest and enjoy the sites.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

A great North American Holiday!

If it were not for the 4000 brave Mexican solders who defeated the French at the battle of Puebla on May Fifth, 1862 the American civil War could cave gone on a whole lot longer (The French were intending to supply the South).

The history of North America has never been just the history of Anglos (as much as they would like to believe so)

So Viva Mexico! And thank you for your help in saving the Union that is the United States.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite poems by José Emilio Pacheco

Alta traición
No amo mi Patria. Su fulgor abstracto
es inasible.
Pero (aunque suene mal) daría la vida
por diez lugares suyos, cierta gente,
puertos, bosques de pinos, fortalezas,
una ciudad deshecha, gris, monstruosa,
varias figuras de su historia,
montañas
(y tres o cuatro ríos).

(and for those poor souls who do not speak Spanish, a translation)

High treason
I do not love my country. Its abstract splendor
is beyond my grasp.
But (although it sounds bad) I would give my life
for ten places in it, for certain people,
seaports, pinewoods, fortresses,
a run-down city, gray, grotesque,
various figures from its history
mountains
(and three or four rivers).

Don't Forget

It was 38 years ago today that four students were murdered on the campus of Kent State

And the same people who were in power then (Right Wing Republicans) are still in power, the wars are still feeding the Mega-Corps and people are still dying.

(sigh)

Biking Season is Here Again!

It's (mostly) warm and sunny again, and I try to get out daily for a little riding.

I have been an avid bicycle rider since I was a kid. My first bike, a Christmas gift, opened up the world for me, or at least it seemed so at the time. I was no longer limited by how far and how fast I could walk. I could get to places on my own that had required the help of an adult (like the nearest movie theater).

Over the years I have kept up with my riding, mostly for recreation. That is of course until recently.

During the months where we have good weather I avoid using a car whenever possible, which saves me huge amounts of money. Probably 95% of my transportation needs are taken care of by riding my bike rather than driving.

Happily, last year our local government received a visit from the clue fairy and put a bunch of our tax money into building and improving bike paths around the area. This has opened up whole new vistas to riding that were at best unsafe before.

Along with just getting around while denying the oil companies my money, biking is my main form of aerobic and endurance training.

I usually ride twenty to thirty miles every other day for conditioning. My very favorite ride takes me in a long loop along both sides of the Grand River.


The ride takes me through gorgeous West Michigan farm country, along the banks of the river and through a rather nice park.



This is the bridge where I cross the river at the top of the loop.


This is a view of the Grand from the park trail.

One of the very best ways I know of to spit in the eye of the oil companies is to get a bicycle and use it as much as possible.

For anyone in the area who doesn't have a bike and wants one I recommend making a stop at the Grand Rapids Bicycle Company, it's right by Knapp and the Beltline. The people there are great, the prices are as good as you get anywhere, ss a matter of fact they compete quite nicely with internet prices. Check them out, get a bike and save lots of money while staying fit and healthy

Hillery Clinton tells us what she REALLY thinks

And you wonder why I think she's a Crypto-Republican

The Huffington Post got it's hands on an interesting recording of Clinton at a closed door fund raiser.

I'm not even going to comment, just take a listen.

Philadelphia Daily News endorses Barack Obama

After last night's pathetic excuse for a debate the Philly Daily News gave Obama it's endorsement.

Last night's debate was a new low in mainstream media journalism (such as it is) with little of substance being discussed. It did make one thing clear though...

Clinton represents the status quo

The Daily News agrees and gave Obama a very strong endorsement (which I reprint here)

VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA

THE CHOICE in Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary is not only the one between a white woman and a black man. It's a choice between the past and the future.

More specifically, the nation must decide how to face the future racing toward us in the form of slumping home sales, unstable financial markets and increased joblessness - and staring at us from the Green Zone in Iraq and the beds at veterans hospitals.

Should Democrats choose someone who will employ hard-won - even bitter - experiences gained in a past Democratic administration, or reach beyond political truisms toward a new (and untried) model of governing?

Neither choice is obvious. Perhaps that's why the race has gone on for so long.

But the long slog through 44 primaries and caucuses has confirmed for us that Sen. Barack Obama's vision of change - and the way he plans to pursue it - is what we need right now. Badly.

This is a campaign that really began six years ago, on Sept. 11, 2001. Not only was the U.S. attacked and seriously wounded, it did not bounce back the way "the land of the free and home of the brave" should have. In fact, it still suffers from post-traumatic stress.

That day and its aftermath cried out for a revolution of values: a clear-eyed shared vision, a cooperative effort, a unified purpose. It cried out for a recognition that conventional warfare and conventional responses to domestic challenges in an era of globalization were not enough.

That cry was not answered.

Instead, the Bush administration embarked on an unconscionable plan to exploit the fear we all felt that day for political gain. It lied us into a disastrous war in Iraq, a staggering, record deficit at home, a weakening of the constitutional structure on which the country rests, and poisonous lines of division among Americans. It led us to a place where 81 percent of Americans say we're on the wrong track.

Contrary to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign slogan, we believe Barack Obama is more likely to be "ready on Day One" to lead us in a new direction. Because of his experience.

Sure, Clinton has more "experience" of a sort. For one thing, she has 14 more years on earth. How much of this experience is directly applicable to the job of president is, at best, debatable.

We are frankly troubled by her assumption that her husband's administration and accomplishments were her own. And if her equation holds, that the first spouse is an equal partner in the administration, then the reappearance of Bill Clinton in the White House is a prospect we have a hard time reconciling with the work that needs to be done.

THERE IS a way to match Clinton's and Obama's performances on a relatively equal playing field: their campaigns.

A candidate's campaign may be the best indicator of how she or he will govern. If so, an Obama administration would be well-managed, inclusive and astonishingly broad-based. It would make good use of technology and communicate a message of unity and, yes, hope.

It would not be content with eking out slim victories by playing to the narrow interests of the swing voters of the moment while leaving the rest of the country as deeply divided as ever. Instead, an Obama administration would seek to expand the number of Americans who believe that they have a personal stake in our collective future - and that they have the power to change things.

It would motivate them to hold their representatives accountable for making it happen. That is, after all, the only way to get us out of Iraq, to address global warming, to make us energy-independent. It's the only way to resist the forces arrayed against providing universal health care, rebuilding our infrastructure and returning our schools to world-class status. It's the only way to give our children the means to compete with children in other parts of the world who are healthier, better-educated and have more opportunities than many of our own.

An Obama administration would be freer of the the corrupting influence of big-money donors and corporate interests. Obama has raised $240 million overall, with half coming in contributions of less than $200. People who contribute to political campaigns can feel they "own" a candidate and so Obama would owe allegiance to the wide swath of America that has financed his campaign.

Based on his experience in running a quarter-billion-dollar enterprise with thousands upon thousands of volunteers, we could expect an Obama administration to be well-managed and cost-effective, with the president choosing forward-thinking advisers committed to his program, demanding that they work as a team and pay attention to details.

He would be steady and calm, given neither to irrational exuberance or outbursts of anger. He would make mistakes, that's for sure, but he could be expected to recognize them, adjust, and move forward.

He would adjust his views to reality rather than trying to adjust reality to his views.

Obama's unprecedented appeal to younger voters is significant not only because it expands the electorate, which is vital. It's also a validation of his promise as a president to be free of the baby-boomer/Vietnam/segregation-era hangups.

Younger people are more egalitarian, more accepting of diversity, and more comfortable with rapid change. They also are less confined by old resentments or regrets.

AND AN OBAMA administration would lower the tone of the rhetoric that separates us.

As New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has said, Obama is a once-in-a-lifetime candidate who has the skill and eloquence to help us raise our eyes and our aspirations beyond individual, personal concerns, beyond religion or region or race or gender, beyond our well-founded fears to a shared destiny.

Most candidates claim that they will change the way business is done in Washington. Barack Obama has made us believe that, yes, he can.

The Two Republican Candidates are Upset

Clinton and McCain think that Obama is out of touch because he knows that people are bitter about the way the Republican led government had rode rough shod over America for the last thirty years.

(yes, I know that Hillery claims to be a democrat, but if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, she will claim to have shot it when she was a kid)

Obama has a pretty pointed answer to the Republicans who think that we are all happy about their selling our country down the river for their thirty pieces of silver. Check it out.
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