apple juice

Oh boy…

A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less),

From a great post over at the New Yorker, “Like, Socialism“

my deep thought for the day:

how many hours of beautiful fall saturdays have I spent doing house chores instead of enjoying the days?

i should have a calculation for you later today.

i want to move to a condo/townhouse/loft.

Now this is awesome!

Cyclopath

It’s a geowiki for twin cities cyclists. Meaning that anyone can create an account and add information about where the good places to bike are. Very cool!

did it strike anyone odd that on the day the report came out on Trooper-gate saying that Gov. Palin abused her powers as Governor, she was out giving speeches claiming that they would reform abuses of power by government?

i don’t know, it just seemed a little odd.

Article today in the Star Tribune — What route is best for Southwest LRT

The basic arguments come down to: What’s fastest for suburban commuters, who’s backyard will it run through, and which neighborhoods are we going to connect.

My gut reaction in looking at the alignments is that it would be best to curve through uptown, connecting uptown, eat street, and downtown.

But perhaps there are further plans on the drawing board… maybe a streetcar line starting around calhoun, and then tracking uptown/eat street/downtown? Then you can have the LRT line run a more direct route, and serve the dense populations of uptown/downtown with streetcars.

It’s hard to say without knowing what the larger system looks like, and this is the fundamental flaw in looking at each of these proposed lines in isolation. It doesn’t seem like we’re focused on making a system for the Twin Cities.

I know that plans are out there for successive lines and how it all fits together, but the discussion of this particular alignment needs to take into account the larger vision, otherwise I can just imagine that the public hearing will come down to a lot of bickering.

It is good to see that we’re moving forward with additional lines though!

I went out in the neighborhood to knock some doors for Obama on Saturday. A supremely weird experience. Voting is a personal decision… or at least that’s what I’ve always been taught. So I felt like I was violating some part of my upbringing. On the other hand, I think that sharing my beliefs and convictions with my neighbors and my community is important at well. So, in a bit of a conflict I set off to knock some doors.

And it was hard to ask the question… “Who are you voting for?” The campaign gives you a script, so I wasn’t simply launching into that question, but still, getting to that question was hard, with people you sort of know, but mostly don’t.

Let’s just say this, it’s easier to do it when you’re in some other neighborhood where you don’t know anyone.

I think the campaign thinks that perhaps its more powerful coming from a neighbor. Maybe that comes from the fact that it’s a lot tougher to take a chance on a relationship that has basically been formed at a few block parties and passing conversations while walking the dog down the street.

Standing at Starbucks the next day, I was reminded again of this when I overheard conversation between two older gentlemen while waiting for my pumpkin spice latte.

The first gentleman was explaining to the second that he couldn’t believe the gall of the Obama supporters who were at his door trying to find out who he was voting for, and trying to stick a sign in his yard.

Perhaps emboldened by the caffeine, I took a seat next to them and introduced myself as somone who was out yesterday doing that exact same thing (although not forcing my opinions or signs on anyone).

And I tried to explain why I felt compelled to go out and do that, even though I knew that voting was a personal decision. Gentleman #2 clearly got it, and said a few words about going out and telling people what you believe.

Gentleman #1 started into a rant about Obama and how he doesn’t really have him figured out yet. Gentleman #2 says “What do you need to figure out at this point? He’s better for the country than McCain!”

With that, I took my pumpkin spiced lattes and headed out the door.

McCain moves around the carpet like a roomba.