Why I'm Proud of Madison

My great hope is that the lesson learned in Wisconsin (and various other states), where unionized workers have basically been blamed for the budget deficits by the GOP, is that the people won't accept the blame.

I've seen it happening in businesses, especially lately, where a lack of foresight and an abundance of aggressive spending have left companies cash poor in a down economy. You rarely see the top executives take a pay cut. You do see companies shift manufacturing to China; essentially accepting risk in the place of higher pay for better control of the process, then blaming the high cost of American skilled labor. You see them cut large numbers of employees to reduce head count. It's the easiest path to a lower bottom line.

In the past few years, we've seen the Republican party lobby to repeal the affordable health care act which was meant to take some of the bargaining power away from the insurance companies and offer that leverage to Americans who needed the help (most of us would stay with our employer-provided coverage). That is the purpose of the government - by the people and FOR the people.

They've also vigorously lobbied to lower the minimum wage and cut unemployment benefits. If they don't make it easier for American manufacturers to ply their trade, lower minimum wage, and cut unemployment, surely they'll focus their attention on the school systems to make sure that everyone is educated enough to get and maintain a job, right? Wrong again.

I'm not sure what the answer is for folks who live in smaller towns with less opportunity for work.

Anyhow, I'm hoping this attack on the laboring class in America will be seen for what it is and voted back out of office. In the short term, we can enjoy Rep. Anthony Weiner's perspective:

Why You Should Be Driving Stick

There are a few compelling reasons why I continue to buy cars with manual transmissions. Here they are:

1. I am smarter than an automatic transmission. Maybe not more efficient, but I know when I want to go faster and why, and instead of waiting for my accelerator pedal to trigger a computer which does some kind of algorithm (very quickly) to adjust my gear, I've already down-shifted. I can also drop a gear to slow down without using the brakes once in a while. Overall, a manual transmission gives you a little more control over things.

2. 136,000 miles without a transmission problem. Maybe it's the superior craftsmanship present in the 2002 Saturn Vue, or maybe it's just nice to not have to worry about all of those control mechanisms and fluids. Sure, I may need a clutch at some point, but not yet, and that's a lot of miles.

3. Wanna borrow my car? If you answered yes, you'll need to know how to drive a 5-speed. If you do, you're probably a pretty good driver. (I'll still deny you because it MY CAR. That'd be like lending out my underwear!)

Anyhow, I think people have become a bit complacent about driving and car dealers like the extra dough they get from fixing automatic transmissions, so I don't expect things to change anytime soon. It's a shame, because slamming the car into "D" just isn't very satisfying.

Arrrrrrgh. Template Malfunction

Well, I went through the entire list of images that the designer of this blog template used to create the nice look and feel of place. Unfortunately, he didn't pony up for a pro Photobucket account and now all of the design pieces are showing a "You need to buy a pro account with Photobucket" ad. So, I tracked down each individual piece (42 of them) and hosted them myself. Found out later that these pieces were for the original Wordpress template - not the Blogger template. Grrrrr.

I'll be mulling around whether to give up or try to find the correct images, but not tonight. This was enough futility for one night.

Ciao.

Shredded Villages and Bamboo Bikes

I'm not even going to try to encapsulate it with a witty editorial intro, just post up the stuff I've been seeing this week.

1. The Tsunami. Clearly, the biggest story in the world at the moment. It's breathtaking devastation caught on film and ongoing. There's an amazing photo series at the Boston Globe - here's the link:
Japan - Vast Devastation - The Big Picture - Boston.com

2. Census numbers in the Midwest. Digging the new public media venture called Changing Gears, which is where I got this info. Interesting stuff on the rebuilding of the area's manufacturing core.


View Midwest Census 2010 Results in a larger map

3. Bamboo bikes. Might seem trite in the wake of such amazing geological disaster, but this video is compelling for a few reasons:

Bamboo on Wheels from Jan Sturmann on Vimeo.

The Hawk

No, not the icy winds that takes your breath away downtown - I'm talking about a real hawk. I see it on the road sign in the farm field on my way to work in the morning pretty frequently. Apparently, it's learning that our neighborhood is chock full of small rodents, too.

Caught this a few days ago just as I was about to let the dog out:



It's not big enough to go after our dog, but I didn't want to give it a reason to defend itself, either. This morning, I saw the same hawk under one of our trees, eating something. I'll bet it wasn't berries...