10 Commandments for Road Users

In a previous post, I mentioned that the Vatican had issued 10 Commandments for Motorists, and that I thought they were a step in the right direction.

As a commenter and a buddy of mine pointed out, however, the Vatican could perhaps have been a bit more specific with some of their Commandments, and otherwise kind of missed the mark.

In the spirit of collaboration, then, I present a more definitive set of Commandments for Road Users:

1. Thou shall not kill, maim or damage anything with thine car.

2. Thou shall protect the more vulnerable party on the road: Motorists must always yield to bicyclists who must always yield to pedestrians. Vulnerable parties should, however, refrain thyselves from darting needlessly and with no warning in front of less-vulnerable traffic in a way that invites danger and irritation. As a user of the public space, thou shalt have respect for and patience with thine neighbor.

3. Thou shall not drive while under the influence of a substance, mental or physical condition that might impede thine ability to drive safely and prudently. Same goes for thine drunken friends and relatives.

4. Thou shall always use turn-signals, even for lane-changes, and hazard lights when slowed or stopped.

5. Thou shall either hang up or pull over, for thou sucketh at driving while talking. Typing on small keyboards while driving lies beyond the skill set of even the gods themselves, much less mere mortals such as thyself.

6. Thou shall not install a sound system that rattles the windows, doors and frame of thine vehicle, or otherwise pimp thine ride obnoxiously.

7. Thou shall not leave the scene of an accident without first being charitable and attending to your neighbour in need. Further, thou shalt support the families of accident victims. Thou shall also make steps to bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

8. Thou shall not tailgate the vehicle in front of you. Though shall always make efforts to leave at least a 2-second following distance in good weather, and a 4-second distance when conditions are wet, frozen or otherwise a hindrance to the traction of thine vehicle.

9. Thou shall keep a calm mind when behind the wheel: live and let live, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help thou to deal with unforeseen events; extending body parts or mouthing obscenities at other drivers will do nothing to gain karma points for thine soul. Also, lead not thine fellow drivers into road rage by straddling lanes, blocking the passing lane, merging poorly, running red lights, stopping for no apparent reason, weaving, etc.

10. When possible, thou shall choose to take transit, walk or ride a bicycle rather than drive, for these courses of action will bring peace to thine mind, assist thine neighbor in breathing less toxic air and find greater favor with thine creator.

Perhaps the Pope, seeing as he generally has the Popemobile or another chauffeured ride to roll in, was just a bit out of touch with the everyday realities of life on the modern road. Whatever the cause, I believe that these Commandments shall be more useful for thine road-using ways.

Our country is sick.

Forgive me if the title of this post seems offensive to you, and allow me to explain in a little more detail.

You see, I've just viewed Michael Moore's new movie, Sicko (click to download a lo-res version of the avi for free here, no tricks, no gimmicks).

And his movie makes me sick.

Sick of our country.

Because our country is sick.

Some of you may be saying "well, tell me something I don't know."

But at this point in time, after having this movie drive home its point so eloquently, so undisputedly, so clearly... I really only have two options:

1) Overthrow our government
2) More to Europe, or Canada, or Cuba, or some other country with free health care for all.

Nothing else really seems like a good option right now.

Because, health care affects all of us.

And as Mike points out so well in his movie, the American health care system is broken. It has been broken by money-grubbing corporate thieves, carrying out a plan hatched by Richard M Nixon and his cronies back in the early 1970s.

In short, the American health care system, like so much else in our country, was devised by men who represent pure evil.

By men who want nothing more than more money for themselves, and the worst possible for everybody else.

Think I'm spouting hyperbole? Think I'm making this up?

Watch the movie. Go ahead. Then, tell me how I'm wrong.

Please.

I want to be wrong. I do.

I'm afraid I'm not.

And while you're telling me what to do, help me choose between overthrow of the government and leaving the country, because there's got to be a better solution than a coin toss.

Tell the Nation: The Simpsons are from Oregon

So, there's a contest as to which Springfield should play host to the movie premiere for the Simpsons movie:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/simpsons-contest.htm

As we all know, the host should of course be Springfield, Oregon. As reported in this Tribune article, Matt Groening is, after all, an Oregonian who has been temporarily been living in L.A. for the past two decades -- and more importantly, much of the inspiration for The Simpsons comes from his childhood growing up in Portland.

But, we need to vote to make sure that happens. This is a part of a larger effort to tell the nation that the Simpsons are from Oregon, as documented here.

Make sure your vote counts, and help get the word out!!

Update:

The Mayor of Springfield, OR, Mayor Leiken, is completely behind this effort, going so far as to paint a statue of a horse at an entrance to the town in "Simpsons Yellow," wearing a Mayor Quimby-style sash for all public appearances (and sporting a Secret Service-looking bodyguard), appearing in the video on the website above, and otherwise doing as much as possible to support making Springfield, OR the Simpsons' Springfield.

Which, to any Oregonian who has ever actually visited Springfield, should be rather amusing...

The Vatican issues Ten Commandments for Motorists

As reported in The Guardian UK and news outlets across the planet, on Tuesday, June 19th the Vatican issued a set of Ten Commandments for Motorists:

1. You shall not kill.
2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
4. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.
5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
7. Support the families of accident victims.
8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
10. Feel responsible toward others.

I think this is great. Regardless of how you feel about the Vatican, about Catholicism, about organized religion in general, or about driving, it's hard not to see this as a Good Thing and certainly a step in the right direction. After acknowledging that yes, there does seem to be a problem with uncivil behavior on the part of motorists, these Commandments seem to be a reasonable list of actions and attitudes that, if adopted by all users of the road, would lead to much more civil behavior by users of transportation in the public realm.

My only concern is that enough people view these Commandments, and take them to heart, regardless of their religious affiliation. Does this need to turn into a petition, signed by the religious leadership of all the world's various denominations? Are there other ways that folks could take these ideas and run with them?

New Vision for American Development: My guest post on SinceSlicedBread.com

I've recently written a guest post for the SinceSlicedBread movement's website, which is located here. It starts with this opener:

The basic premise of the New Vision for American Development is that this country needs to move away from the auto-centric patterns of development that have been destroying our communities since the end World War Two. That's not to say that cars are bad per se, but that we have an imbalance of auto-centric infrastructure and we must now seek a return to equilibrium by turning our focus to other modes and patterns of development.

Read the rest here. And please let me know what you think in the comments below!

Thanks,
~Garlynn

Higher Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Standards: Contact Congress NOW to support them!

This week, Congress and the U.S. Senate are debating bills that would raise fuel efficiency standards to about 35mpg by 2020 (30mpg for small trucks and SUVs), then increase them by either 4% or 4mpg a year until 2030 (the details seem confused and may vary between the bills in the House and the Senate).

The important thing right now is that Americans express their demand for vehicles that get higher fuel efficiency. If you're a soccer mom who needs a station wagon to haul five kids around after practice, but needs to get at least 35 mpg in the city (and at least 45mpg on the highway) so as not to break the bank at the gas pump, you need to let your representative know so THIS WEEK!!

If you're interested in having it potentially run on 100% Biodiesel, as well as potentially being a plug-in hybrid (these things are not even close to being mutually exclusive, and would in fact complement one another quite nicely), mention this too!

This is where Congress can be made to work for you, to apply the necessary pressure to the automakers to accomplish these goals. Call the Congressional Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and your call will be forwarded to any member of Congress. I can't stress enough how much you need to do so this week, as automakers are in D.C. using the fear factor, telling Congress that they can't significantly improve mileage rates for their vehicles. As you may recall, this is the same industry that claimed that air bags, seat belts, anti-lock brakes and other safety devices would be too expensive to make standard in all cars. Fuel economy standards in Europe, however, are already above 40mpg, and many American automakers also make models for the European market. So it would seem that there is no real obstacle to meeting the proposed fuel efficiency standards for the United States. If anything, our goals are too low!

Furthermore, it can't hurt to remind the automakers themselves of your needs, even though they have an institutional bias against highly-fuel-efficient vehicles that is deeply rooted in politics, history, ego and pride. The more they hear from potential customers who just won't buy a gas-guzzler from them, and will continue to refuse to purchase a new vehicle from them until it gets better gas mileage, the more likely they will be to change their minds on this issue -- all other factors aside.

Contact information for some of the major automakers is here:

Ford: (800)392-FORD or Ford Motor Company, Customer Relationship Center, Box 6248, Dearborn, Mich. 48126.

GM/Saturn: (800) 553-6000 or Customer Assistance Center, 100 Saturn Parkway, Mail Drop 371-999-S24, Spring Hill, Tenn. 37174.

Nissan: (800) NISSAN-1 (800-647-7261) or Nissan Consumer Affairs, Box 685003, Franklin, Tenn. 37068-5003.

Mitsubishi: (888) MITSU2006 (800-648-7820) or Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc., PO Box 6014, Cypress, Calif. 90630-0014.

Toyota: (800) 331-4331 or Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. 19001 South Western Ave. Dept. WC11, Torrance, Calif. 90501.

Phone calls would be a great way to start, but printed letters would be even better. My sense is that electronic inquiries (emails, etc.) are too easily ignored in such large bureaucracies as auto companies.

Please post your thoughts here, especially if you are inspired to make some calls and/or write some letters!

cheers,
~Garlynn

Response from Speaker Pelosi on The Question of Impeachment

In a previous post in February of 2007, I posted an open letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the U.S. House of Representatives, calling for the impeachment of the top members of the Bush Administration for their crimes against the citizens of the United States.

And now, in June of 2007, Speaker Pelosi has delivered a response to the letter, posted in entirety below:

June 5, 2007

Dear Garlynn:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush. I appreciate hearing from you.

Like you, I agree that the Bush Administration has failed to provide the tools our troops need to get the job done in Iraq and a plan to get them home safely. The war in Iraq has resulted in the loss of more than 3,300 American lives, wounded more than 16,000 of our men and women in uniform, ended or shattered countless Iraqi lives, and cost American taxpayers more than $200 billion. Searches for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the President's justification for the war, failed to find anything. A top White House official has been criminally indicted and convicted for perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of a CIA operative in connection with the Administration's attempts to discredit critics of the war.

Congress has a responsibility to hold the Bush Administration accountable for miscalculating the risks, misunderstanding the challenges, and misrepresenting the facts and intelligence that brought us into the war. As we begin the 110th Congress it is my intention to have Congress conduct a thorough investigation of these matters. Please be assured that reinstituting checks and balances through rigorous congressional oversight will remain among my highest priorities as we begin in a new direction for our nation.

Thank you for taking the time to contact me on this issue. For more information on this and other issues, I invite you to visit my website at www.house.gov/pelosi. I hope you will continue to communicate with me on matters of concern to you.

Sincerely,


Nancy Pelosi
Member of Congress

I can only speculate as to why it took so long to receive a response on this issue. Perhaps this is a signal that, at long last, the Democrats will soon begin to play hardball with the President and his party?

We can only hope.

In Support of Underage Drinking

I recently received an email from the Oregon House Representative representing southern Southeast Portland, Representative Carolyn Tomei, indicating her support for a bill increasing penalties for Underage Drinking, HB 2766. HB 2766 increases the fines for minors who attempt to purchase, successfully purchase, or otherwise acquire alcoholic beverages. The fine for a first conviction is $350, and for a subsequent convictions, $1000. Rep. Tomei wrote that "This measure cannot stop underage drinking, but we need to make sure that the sanctions imposed are sufficiently severe. "

I'm saddened by her support for increased youth prohibition.

Let me tell you, I have no shame in admitting that I began consuming beer and wine at the age of 15 with parental consent, in moderate quantities. I then left high school early to enroll in a college early admission program at the age of 16. I graduated from college with my bachelor's degree at the age of 20. Don't think for a second that I didn't celebrate with a keg of beer!

My family, which is partly from the old German stock, has always had a different approach towards alcohol -- that is, learn how to drink responsibly around family, that way you don't go embarrassing yourself in public. It follows that young people should learn to drink responsibly, starting with beer and wine first, while they're young, so they don't go embarrassing themselves when they get older and have more responsibilities!

In Europe, according to this Washington Post article,the drinking age for beer and wine varies from... NONE, in Poland and Portugal, to 14 in Switzerland, to 16 in the rest of Europe. At the age of 18, in most European countries, hard liquor becomes legal. The 21st birthday has no real legal meaning in most of Europe.

The problem in America is that it's too easy to DRIVE at an early age without adequate training, and that because we have a culture that is, basically, uneducated towards alcohol, there is no legit way for somebody to learn to drink responsibly prior to achieving the legal drinking age. It's just this assumption that for 21 years, you don't touch the stuff, then all of a sudden at 21, you know how to consume it responsibly, and have somehow gained this knowledge... by osmosis?

That's unhealthy.

To just increase the fines for underage drinking solves nothing, except maybe a budget shortfall at the OLCC (Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which levies the fines mentioned in the bill above).

Rather, we should be taking steps to encourage a more European approach to alcohol. I recognize that Ronald Reagan made the drinking age a federal policy, but perhaps Oregon could experiment with... going it's own way on this matter. Starting with beer/wine at 16, hard liquor at 18, and stiffer policies against DRIVING WITHOUT ADEQUATE TRAINING. If all young folks FIRST learn how to drink responsibly, and when to NOT drink, and THEN receive the right to drive, don't you think that might be a better situation than FIRST getting the right to drive, THEN at some point receiving legal permission to drink, without adequate preparation?

Portland's Bike Plan and Mayor Potter

So, my confidence in Mayor Potter has pretty much zeroed out.

Why?

He has decided to end funding for the current update to Portland's Bicycle Plan (called the Platinum Bicycle Master Plan because of its aim to make Portland into a Platinum-rated city for bicycling).

You see, the last time Portland issued a Bike Plan was in 1996.

It's now 2006, and a new effort is underway to update the plan.

$50,000 was allocated towards this effort in the current budget, and $100,000 was requested in next year's budget.

Potter decided to nix this request.

The BTA responded with the largest outpouring of community activism since Potter assumed office -- over 300 calls & emails on the issue:

Potter has decided to stay the course, and cut funding for the bike plan -- despite community opposition to this decision.

At this point, the next steps are to email the other four Commissioners, and ask them to support an amendment to the budget to add back in the $100,000 in funding for the Bike Plan.

Here’s who:

Commissioner Erik Sten:
erik@ci.portland.or.us

Commissioner Sam Adams:
commissionersam@ci.portland.or.us

Commissioner Dan Saltzman:
dsaltzman@ci.portland.or.us

Commissioner Randy Leonard:
rleonard@ci.portland.or.us

And, of course, if you're registered in Multnomah County (specifically, in Portland), vote against the charter amendment on the May 15th, 2007 ballot. Potter has shown that he can't be trusted. His strong-mayor initiative is thus a very bad idea -- he doesn't need and shouldn't have any more power than he already does.

MoveOn and... moving on.

MoveOn.org recently conducted a poll asking their members how well they're doing. It was pretty open-ended, and it left open the opportunity for an open-ended question like "anything else you'd like to tell us?" at the end of the survey.

These are the burning comments that I really felt needed to be shared, with MoveOn and with the American People, right now:

IMHO, the Iraq War is a giant smokescreen designed to distract the American people from the problems at home by focusing their attention abroad -- ala 1984. In that respect, it has been fabulously successful.

Even the opposition party is limited in their ability to focus on other agendas, and winds up spending a lot of their air spouting off about issues related to Iraq/the war on terror.

To the extent that MoveOn can work to broaden the agenda (which would seem to fit in quite nicely with the name, no?), I think that is the *most* important thing right now.

More important than bringing the troops home, or subpoenas, or impeaching the president, is to just change the agenda to re-focus on more important issues.

Like a nationwide high speed rail system.

Like nationwide land use reform to focus new development as infill in central cities and in new transit oriented development.

Like higher fuel economy standards for vehicles.

Like nationwide health care reform.

Like nationwide energy efficiency initiatives.

Like nationwide voting reform (i.e. paper trails and perhaps a move towards expanded vote-by-mail).

Like nationwide drug policy reform -- when are we going to *end* the War on Drugs?

Like reforming our national food delivery system so that our citizens are not force-fed chemicals, hormones and slaughtered animals who have never seen an open field? Ever read Fast Food Nation?

Why aren't these issues high on the national agenda?

It's simple: Because the Bush Administration has been *wildly* successful. Their real mission has been to build a giant smokescreen, to distract the American public while they plunder the national treasury and conduct *business as usual* for the rich Republican slimeballs that run the place.

Bravo, MoveOn for falling into their traps.

First rule of holes:

When in a hole, stop digging.