Tuesday, May 02, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

I need to offer thanks to White Open Spaces and A Progressive on the Prairie for enjoying with me my appearance on the local news last week. I appreciate the referral hits gentlemen but let’s get the story strait.

My friend at White Open Spaces and I have been going back and forth more than usual lately but we have a trust that we'll avoid colliding. He said this, “…while I may disagree with the reasoning behind his decision...”

In a world where everything is true and everything is false…
Remember my story of the Blockbuster Video employee telling me they had just been cleared to put Paper Clips back on the shelf, even though two months prior Corporate Blockbuster had assured the Anti-Defamation League that the story of its removal wasn't true?
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As part of the HB1190 effort over the definition of vehicle, on February 6 a state legislator sent an e-mail to a local cyclist telling him this:

"...I voted for HB 1190 in the House Transportation Committee...I voted for it on the House Floor...The Bill then went to the Senate where it passed the Judiciary Committee...and today it passed the Senate Floor..."

"I realize that a lot of bicyclist(sic) are worried that they will lose 'rights of the road' with this Bill. I have to respectfully disagree, but time will tell. If there is a problem that develops, I think we can revisit the issue next year."


Unfortunately for Rep. Willadsen of Sioux Falls, five days prior the Senate Judiciary amended the bill in exactly the way those worried bicyclists had requested.
Do you suppose stuff like this happens in the worlds of science, religion and national government?

Is the climate crisis real? Is my reasoning sound? What is true and what is false? I don't know.

I know for sure that I have been given a choice between a red pill and a blue pill, and I choose this because something else hasn’t come to mind. I know for sure that there are things about The Creator’s love for creation that I had forgotten and now remember. Surely White Open Spaces would find these things agreeable.

I know for sure that even if the climate crisis is some sort of naturally occurring weather pattern, or it’s somehow part of God’s plan for creation that my President would actually tell his country that it's addicted to oil, or that it’s natural evolution that my country would inordinately contribute to something that scientists the world over say is a crisis, or whatever else it might be…it’s very hard to be disagreeable with extra time with The Boys while we walk or ride the bus, extra exercise, or extra money in the pocket.

White Open Spaces went on to say that cycling is “far from convenient.” Here are some recent inconvenient highlights in reverse chronological order:

This morning on the way to work I got a polite nod from a local bike shop owner.

This morning on the way to work I talked with two people walking on the bike trail. I worked with both of them in my first job out of college. One was a bridesmaid in my wedding and a friend of The Wife since high school.

This morning on the way to work I saw a Canadian goose honking by the river. With every honk the fog of its breath shrouded its head and yeah, the sunlight glistened through it.

This morning on the way to work I rode bikes to school with The Boy 8 and his friend. We rolled past 12 cars waiting in line for the parking lot.

Yesterday I got two hours of exercise. I rode to and from work, went to the bank, My LBS, the coffee shop and one other downtown business. I went a little out of my way for some extra minutes and I fixed two flat tires. I’d like to see anyone do all that in less time for less money and less carbon emissions using a car and a health club. I'll even toss out fixing two flat tires.

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