Good bikes should be had by all

So one of the few people I would ever have gotten a hand made bike from is closing his shop Jonnycycles.com. I've seen a number of his bikes on Fixed Gear Gallery and I must say, I like what he does and I like the way he does it. Sadly not everyone (including me) can afford a custom bike so little guys like him are going out of business. I see this more as a problem with the way our economic system works then anything. It is my personal belief that everyone (I mean last person on the face of the planet) should be able to have a quality bike that will last them a lifetime for a price that is not 2,0000 dollars U.S. for the frame alone. A lot of the people I see riding their bikes for transport can not afford a quality bike, they can afford the walmart special ($150-$200 new and I have a feeling that they aren't buying them new) and the bike is not going to last them. The parts will wear out in a year or so and they'll be forced to keep riding or throw it away and get another.

I remember while I was living in Salt Lake I would generally see the same guy dressed in commercial kitchen garb riding his bike to work each morning. It was an ill fitting walmart special that creaked and groaned as I'd pass him. Both he and I rode year round so I know he was putting some real miles on that bike.

My point is that bikes are a much less expensive form of transport then a car but if you have to go long distances (which more and more working people have to do as our inner cities become gentrified and they can't afford to live and work in the same city) you can buy a cheep car for 500 dollars that will maybe get you to work everyday but the cost of repairs and gas will push that well over the cost of a good bike but because that cost is spread out over months or even years people don't feel it as much as if it all happened at once. So Jonnycycles is closing up because not enough people can buy his product. There are so many reasons why this happens but the main underlying reason is the flaws inherent in capitalism. I would love for some day every city in the Emerica to look like Amsterdam, in regard to bikes anyway... I'd love to see the day when working people can afford to live closer to where they work, they can get there by bike with out fear of being killed by a car and they can do it on a bike that they won't have to replace unless it breaks. Oh well... I know I'll never live to see that day.

Obama won what changed?

No really, I may be drunk but really what on the fucking lovely beautiful Earth changed? You elected a Black man, you think you ended racism? You need to think twice, you may have made a VERY small step in the right direction but it's not, I repeat NOT enough. I hope for the love of all that is really, really good for all people that he claims to represent. Go fuck your self Obama, you pulled a fast one over the the people. You just perpetuate the hoodwink of the people.

So tomorrow is the "big day"

And every time I see an Obama button I shiver a little. He claims to be this big man of change and really if you look at his stances and really think about them how much different is he then McCain? Besides his stance on a woman's right to choose there seems to be very little difference.

He says that he wants to "responsibly redeploy" the U.S. imperial forces in Iraq by saying that he can have all troops out in 16 months yet calls for the following:

increase U.S ground forces by 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines. He has also stated that he will invest in training "special operations forces, civil affairs, information operations, foreign language training and other units and capabilities that remain in chronic short supply" with a focus on "counterinsurgency."

If he plans on pulling the invading forces out of Iraq why then is he increasing the number of troops?

Look at their domestic policies on crime and crime prevention. Both call for increases to the number of police on the streets, the recruitment of young people in to the police force, and more spending to local law enforcement agencies. This has been the same thing since the 1970's and all it's done is put more poor people and people of color behind bars then ever before.

If you really want change why are you voting for the two parties who are funded by the same people. Who do you really think they are going to represent when they get in to office. You or the people who paid to put them there?

Voting is Sucide.

So you think voting matters? I'm sorry to say but you're wrong. Go to this page, CarterCenter.org and ask yourself, "Why is it that the Carter Center does not watch U.S. elections?" They have looked at First Peoples Nations elections, they've looked at elections in places where we're told that there is no "democracy." Places like Jordan, and parts of South Africa, and South America yet they have NEVER, not once, done a survey of the United States. Why? Perhaps this is why, Carter Center and why they don't watch U.S. elections

The fact of the matter is that by voting you are allowing some old white man who's only interest in you is as a commodity, not as a human being, as paid for a politician to vote for you. You've given your ability to say "Yes" or "No" away. I'm sure some of you will say that by not voting I'm not participating in my community or working for the betterment of society. I say you're doing more then that, you're working to destroy and undermine everything you claim to uphold and love. I spend roughly 10 hours a week working with young men who've been not only pushed aside by society but who have been purposefully handed a shit sandwich and told to eat big bites. When they throw aside what they are given and try (I'll admit in ways that are no better) to make something else for themselves they are locked up and treated as if they were trash. I go and spend 10 hours a week with incarcerated youth. What did you do today? Am I doing enough? I doubt it. In fact I know I'm not, but hey I'm doing more then you ever will on November 4th.

You say voting matters. What happened in 2000 then? Remember that one, the majority of the people who are allowed to vote (another problem all together) voted for one man yet he didn't get in to the White House? Why, I thought your electoral system was about empowerment for the people?

What about Jim Crowe's lesser known grandson? You thought that Women earned the Right to to vote with the 19th amendment? Or People of Color with the passing of the 15th?

You have no idea how many lies you've been told. So when it comes time to "vote" think about what you're really doing and look in to what is really happening when you step in to that little booth.

First Day at Maple Lane School.

So today marked the first day that my Program went to Maple Lane. Maple Lane is a maximum security school for young men who've some how run afoul of the law. The majority of them are from poor family and are people of color. But they have been lucky enough to be able to participate in the Gateways Program for Incarcerated Youth. Everyone who reads this knows where I came from and where I am so to say that I have a divergent past from them is to say that the Earth is round. The Gateways Program takes young men at Maple Lane School as well as another of the same time and puts them in college classes with students from Evergreen. In order for them to be in the program they must have a G.E.D. a High School Diploma or be close to getting one.

This is my first time speaking to anyone who has spent any time what so ever in a long term lock up. I'm still thinking about what happened today and the world they live in is so totally different then the one I live in that I don't really know what to say.

I can safely say this, in all the time I've been at Evergreen the greatest seminar I've ever had was the one I had today. We discussed a book called "A Peoples History of Sports in the United States" by Dave Zirin. We've yet to even start reading the book but today we discussed what the author could possibly be writing about. Given that the guys I have class with are in jail for something I saw some of the more encouraging and helpful behavior one person could ever exhibit toward another and this from men who society says are no good, trouble and can not on any level be trusted. I met your average 17 and 18 year old men. I'm sure as I digest what happened today I'll be better able to describe what happened but to say the least it was a life changing experience.

So I Heard Back From that Journal I Tried to get Published in.

They rejected my first draft of my paper. I'm not really up set about it as the reason it was rejected was that I tried to do too much with it. I kinda thought that would happen when I wrote it so it's not too surprising that they turned me down because of that. Now I'm working on doing something different with it and resubmitting it. I'm hopeful, in fact I could submit about three or four papers from what I did last quarter... If only I had the time. :)

Ode to the Dude who Rode to Work With Me the day Before Yesterday

So the day before yesterday on my way to work, I caught up to this guy on Cooper Point turning on to Evergreen Parkway. He was doin' a fairly good clip (about 30 MPH) when I caught up to him. I passed him with a polite "on your left!" As I rounded the corner on Evergreen Parkway, there was this older dude walking his dog, I slowed down waiting to pass him. About that time I hear an "on your left!" and my bikin buddy pass us. I catch him again as we make the turn on to Overhulst Road, and give him a little "on your left!" and as I go by I say "tag?" we then proceed to leap frog past each other for a little bit until he said he was too tired and we rode the rest of the way to the college chatin'. It was a good way to start my day, and left me in a fantastic mood for the rest of the day. I made me wish that I had someone to ride to work with everyday, because it was so much fun.

It reminds me of the few times Cassie and I rode to work together when I was working at the Law Office and she at the "Job From Hell". I find it a lot more enjoyable to ride with people then by my self.

I also heard back from the Journal I am trying to get published in. They rejected my paper as it was last quarter and I need to do some re-writes... Nothing too major in my mind, they were things that I'd been warned about when I first started on it so I'm not too worried. I'll start to re work it tomorrow.