mostly palaver

Cycling observation

As I get older, I find that I am much less demonstrative in expressing my objections when a car does something stupid or dangerous. That said, I'm also much less generous and patient when determining if a car is doing something stupid.

And yes, speeding up to make a right turn in front of me, even if I don't have to brake to avoid you, is stupid and aggressive.

I try not to do this too often

but let's play "Imagine if there was a Democrat in the White House". Of course, one could argue that if there was none of this shit would be happening, but just for fun let try to imagine:

Al-Qaida has rebuilt some of its pre-Sept. 11 capabilities from remote hiding places in Pakistan, leading to a major spike in attacks last year in that country and neighboring Afghanistan, the Bush administration said Wednesday.

Think we'd hear about anything else? Ever? Oh how the drums would beat, how the pundits would rage! "How can this be?! These are the people who attacked us on 9/11, HOW CAN THEY STILL LIVE, let alone reconstitute themselves?"

Good questions, those. Too bad they're not being asked now.

Outrageous

An admitted hatchet job from the WSJ points to the failings of the current state of health insurance in the US:

When Lisa Kelly learned she had leukemia in late 2006, her doctor advised her to seek urgent care at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But the nonprofit hospital refused to accept Mrs. Kelly's limited insurance. It asked for $105,000 in cash before it would admit her.

Huh?

Hospitals are adopting a policy to improve their finances: making medical care contingent on upfront payments. Typically, hospitals have billed people after they receive care. But now, pointing to their burgeoning bad-debt and charity-care costs, hospitals are asking patients for money before they get treated.

What follows in the article is a detailed account of the hardships Ms. Kelly endured trying to get her leukemia treated. It is not a pretty story.

As more and more employers back away from providing health insurance to employees, as they shift more and more of the cost burden, and as employees are forced to seek insurance in the individual market, more and more of them will be un- and under-insured.

It's not something that the market can solve, not in the current form as the market is geared to limit the risks they take on in an effort to maximize profitability. It's something that must be addressed on a national level or else stories like this one will be commonplace.

The Idiocy of the Gas Tax Holiday

Now both McCain and Clinton are in favor of a gas tax holiday and each are attacking Obama on his reluctance to pander on it. I hope he doesn't cave, because the holiday is a stupid idea.

The gas tax actually does something. It goes to build and maintain our roads. Eliminating that revenue now (or anytime for that matter) is a pretty shortsighted, stupid idea. After all, it's not like our infrastructure is in great shape to begin with.

Clinton's pander is marginally better than McCain's because she at least is proposing to tax the oil companies to recover the lost revenue. It's something. Although I didn't see a mechanism in the Clinton plan that prevents the oil companies from passing that tax on to the consumer in the guise of higher prices. Anyway...

But the idea is stupid because it isn't solving anything. Provided the demand for gas is somewhat elastic (and it is as we are currently watching the consumption of gas fall), any cut in the price of gas will do nothing but drive up demand, which will drive up price and consumers will be right back to where they were in the beginning except that the oil companies will be making an additional 5% (the amount of the foregone tax).

I understand that McCain doesn't know shit about economics (and he seems determined to prove it to us), but I expected more from Clinton. Oh well.

Move of this please

Bad news for Clinton:

NBC News has learned that a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, former Amb. to Chile Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon is leaving the campaign to join up Barack Obama's campaign. Officially dubbed a "Hillraiser," Guerra-Mondragon raised nearly $500,000 for Clinton's campaign, according to some estimates. He has been informing people inside Clintonworld this week in what's been described as some tough conversations. A formal announcement of a role for Guerra-Mondragon on Obama's national finance committee will be made next week. Guerra-Mondragon was appointed Amb. to Chile by Pres. Clinton in '94 and served until '98.

Ouch! Reason for the switch? Tone of the Clinton campaign. Good for him.

The Skinscraper Lives!

The 2008 US Criterium series is set! And the good news? The Harlem Skyscraper Classic has been added to the mix.

The title is not a typo. This race, held around a park in Harlem was one of my favorite races back in my racing days. The crowds were big, the racing fast, and amazingly dangerous. The roads are poor, the turns are greater than 90 degrees (two of them anyway) and the racers twitchy. One year there was a huge crash in front of me and I had to ward off bikes that were flying through the air. At the finish of the race I discovered I had chainring marks all down the back of my jersey. It should be fun to watch the pros go at it on this course. If you are local, it's going to be a must-see.

Cycling Update

The Tour of Georgia is going on right now in, well, Georgia.  High Road is having a good race and have had some good results all over the place lately.  Slipstream is also having a good ToG.  The big stage is Saturday. 

This Sunday is the last of the Spring classics in Europe, Liège-Bastogne-Liège , called the "Queen of the Classics" for it's prestige, length and difficulty.  You won't see Boonen, et. al. in the finale of this one, they are all burnt.  L-B-L is typically where the Giro and TdF contenders start to flex their muscles.  With that in mind, here are my favorites:

• Cadel Evans of Silence-Lotto (my money's on him to win)
• Damiano Cunego of Team Lampre (if Evans can't take it)
• Fränk Schleck of CSC (would be a surprise, but possible)
• Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d'Epargne (the third guy on the podium in my estimation)

Music Recommendation

As winter turns to spring, I tend to move away from heavy things (stews, stouts and scotch) towards lighter things (summer ales, ska and some alliterative food dish).  In that vein (ha!), Vampire Weekend's self-titled release in on the iPod right now.  I like it.  Not sure if it's got lasting appeal, but it's fun music for a lovely spring day. 

The Show Must Go On

If we insist on continuing this primary, can we at least all agree that Clinton has to win EVERY primary from here on out?  Can someone please mention that any delegates she gains from her win in PA will be returned if she loses NC?  She can't split with Obama, she can't even win the majority.  If she is going to win the nomination, she has to win every goddamn primary from now until June. 

Murdochville?

Seriously.  I thought it was the town that Bloomberg owned.  I may have mis-calculated:

Rupert Murdoch is moving to tighten his already-imposing grip on American news media, striking a tentative deal to buy his third New York-based paper, Newsday, and getting his first chance to appoint the top editor of The Wall Street Journal, after the resignation of the editor on Tuesday.

The Wall News Post?  The News Post Journal?  The Newsday Street Post?  What do you think?