But they did it too! See! See!

I’m not sure whether to be amused or annoyed at the blatant and poorly done attempt to somehow give political moral equivalence of a picture showing the Clintons with a slum lord  to the actions of Obama’s business dealings with same said slum lord.  The fact that anyone even thinks these can be counted as equal in nature is laughable.

For example, just because I met, spoke, and had a picture taken with Nursultan Nazerbayev when I was in a student exchange program to the then Soviet Union, doesn’t mean I can now be considered one of now Kazakhstan President Nazerbayev’s  aides. Such a claim would be the height of stupidity a rightly scorned.

The fact that the Obama campaign or one of it’s supporters did this indicates to me just how weak Obama’s position is and they know it. So instead they play games to try to get people to ignore the truth of the record of which he claims to be so proud. He may be seen as affable and personable to most people, but if his actions run contrary to his own assertions and claims then he is shown to be just like every other politician. Perhaps even worse, because he lacks the qualifications, experience, and maturity for such high level politics.

Juvenile, even for Obama’s “feel good, ignore the truth” campaign.

Good thing that I support Mr. McCain.

Job Search Amusement

I was checking through the job search I put in for aerospace engineer and got much amusement at finding a listing for a bowling alley pin operator. What that has to do with aerospace engineering is beyond me but it was funny to see.

Appropriate Jailing and Bicycle Attitudes

Woman Jailed After Laughing Over Victim Technically the woman was already in jail awaiting sentence but that aside, I think her sentence was appropriate for what they charged her with. Personally I think she should have been charged with second degree murder given that she intentionally drove drunk knowing her license was suspended for a previous DUI. Had she been wielding a hand held weapon of some sort, she probably would have been charged with second degree murder, but too many people don’t view automobiles as weapons in such cases. Her added comment implying she was justified and has no remorse in hitting and killing an innocent man who was a “tree hugger, a bicyclist, a Frenchman and a gay guy all in one shot” is pathetic and shows how much of a scum bag she is. Yes it was her friend who said it, but it was she who thought it was appropriate after her friend recanted on his own words. The fact that she thinks she is justified in harming someone who appears to be different than her simply because they are different shows there is something wrong with her psychology and deserving of being locked up for whatever her mental malfunction is. She’s obviously too dangerous to be allowed into the population unsupervised.

Arizona Cycling Attitudes

Unfortunately her attitude towards bicyclists is far too common in Arizona in my experience. I started riding my bicycle to save money and get some exercise when attending College in Phoenix and continued the practice upon going to Embry-Riddle for a short time. I actually stopped riding my bicycle between ERAU (in Prescott, AZ) and my apartment because nearly every single day (and I do mean every) I received some harassment or threats by drivers in their cars. Said threats ranged from taunts to out right trying to hit me with their vehicles. The police? Didn’t care in the least. On the few occasions I did call them because I had actually ended up injured they implied it was my fault even though I was lawfully in the bike lane and observing all traffic laws. I even had witnesses who’d back me up on this, but some how the cops always ended up with the same thing: it was my fault and I should follow the traffic laws.

Add to this a friend of mine being intentionally driven off the road while riding in the bike lane and ending up with a broken hip. Cops said it was his faulty. Worse was the fact that witnesses simply left him laying there and left without so much as even calling an ambulance for him. He had to do it himself (being fortunate that his cell wasn’t destroyed in the accident). And then there was another associate (I can’t say friend since we only spoke on occasions while riding) who was actually killed. Nothing ever came of it except the police saying it was an accident and probably his fault.

Needless to say my opinion of the local cops went downhill from there. Let’s just say after that for the remainder of my time at ERAU, I flipped off any police officer I saw and called them what they were: hick donut eaters. Sure, it wasn’t very mature but neither is them ignoring criminal activity that cause serious injure and kill people.

The good thing that came out of all this was the local cyclists got together and formed a club which started pressuring the city council for more protections for cyclists, pushed for greater awareness of traffic laws regarding cyclists rights to be on the road, greater numbers of safe cycling paths,  and more bicycle racks across the city. As this was also the height of the gas crunch in Arizona at the time, the club got a lot of support from people looking for ways to save money on gas and transportation as well as environmentalists and fitness advocates. I graduated and moved away before I saw much impact personally, but as I understand it the club is still active in it’s ongoing work.