May I ?

May I say a few words about:

Dentists: - It seems they are all over the place these days; scores of 'em.  But finding one I trust is harder than it's ever been.  I'm not sure why this should be, since I doubt Dental schools have lowered their standards for graduation, but you couldn't confirm that through my experiences.  Suffice it to say that when I've not been unnecessarily gouged by dental instruments (of torture), I've been gouged by dental financial shenanigans (also torture).  Now I've got a broken tooth that needs a crown.  Who Do I Trust?

Obama V Romney: -  This will not be an exciting campaign.  We know as much about Mitterson Q. Romnificent the Fourth as most of us care to, and his minions (particularly that cheering section known as Fox News) are obnoxious when they aren't being heartless;  Meanwhile Barack Hussein Obama has become, to many of his formerly ardent admirers, just that guy who inhabits the White House and does more or less a decent job of dealing with world events, and tolerates with substitute-teacher zen the heap of republican excrement that's clogged his court appointments and blocked any real legislation.  No longer the second coming, however.  I predict America will snooze through the campaign, waking up on election day to vote for the guy they feel least uneasy about that morning.

California's Gold: - Where the heck is it?  Good Old 'Govvy Brown has lectured his 39 million surrogate children on our 16 billion dollar fiscal improvidence.  We've been bad and now we'll have to pay - either with taxes or cuts, or preferably for the Gov, both.  Problem is, we can't afford to cut school funding (at the college level at least) more than it already has been cut, without reducing the supply of future qualified graduates to the educational equivalent of a dried up mud puddle in a drought. And with 11% unemployment in the State, raising taxes will hit already reeling families hard.  Reverse Dust-Bowl migration, anyone?  Is there room in Oklahoma for five or six million more?  California needs gold, and that means we need jobs, but so far I've not seen anything from Sacramento except partisanship, polemics,  procrastination, and passing (the buck).  Oklahoma, here we come, right back where we started from (oh, wait ...)

They say April showers bring May flowers.  Well, it rained in California in April, and sure enough there are flowers in May ... but the Summer Heat is here and the blooms are withering folks; withering ...

Crest Fallen

I spend most of my motorcycling time on Highway 2, better known locally as 'Angeles Crest'.  It's a roller-coaster from flatland LA up into the mountains, over the top, and down into the desert.  Something like 60-odd miles or so of the most fun a sporting motorcyclist has any right to expect.

But this road has a bad reputation.  Not entirely justified, and vilified more among the non-riding population than those of us who ride and ought to know... but that reputation is not without reason.

It isn't the most dangerous road I ride.  My commutes by motorcycle through rush-hour LA city traffic pose far more hazards to my safety.  Freeway jaunts at peak traffic times are only slightly less risky.

This is because, for all intents and purposes, motorcyclists are invisible to other motorists.  Even when they aren't distracted by adjusting the radio, checking their GPS, reading (and answering) their email, combing their hair, doing their makeup, or even a phone call, car drivers just don't see bikers much of the time.  When they do see us, they usually don't understand the dynamics of bikes, and as a result do things around us that put us in danger; like tailgating, or cutting in front of us with their brakes hard-on.  (Modern cars with all-wheel ABS brakes can stop much faster than even the most sophisticated motorcycle, even if the bike has ABS.)

This invisibility and lack of empathy among car drivers pose by far the greatest danger to anyone who rides a bike.  Accidents and fatalities due to bike-car collisions are the most common.

The kind of accidents that typically occur on roads like Angeles Crest; however, are single vehicle, bike-only affairs.  This may be why these accidents get the most attention:  they aren't what we've come to think of as daily run-of-the-mill traffic risks;  these are incidents where the riders have put themselves at risk, on purpose, and for recreation.  It's easy for non-riders to see a convenient fix:  ban bikes from those roads and that kind of activity. (Never minding that sports car owners recreate there too - and also crash).

That attitude is a cross and a prejudice all of us who love riding for pleasure are forced to bear in America.  Things are easier for our brethren in Europe;  there are many more bikes per capita on the road there, and people are more comfortable with their presence.  Here, we are still considered by many as an outlaw minority, years after any excuse to believe that cliche has ceased to exist.

But, as I mentioned before, riding the Angeles Crest and roads like it can be dangerous.  Bikes (and cars) can and do crash there on a regular basis, and some of those crashes result in fatal injuries.

I've known people who've crashed - and a few who have died - on that road, but I also know people who've ridden there for decades without any accidents.  Sometimes the difference can be down to simple things:  a deer jumps out in front of you, or it doesn't;  newly fallen rocks have rolled into your path around a tight corner with a steep cliff and empty air your only escape route - or they haven't.  Sometimes the cause might be mechanical; a flat tire, a broken chain, oil spilling onto the rear tire, even braking failure, but these are exceedingly rare.

Usually, single vehicle bike crashes on Angeles Crest are down to rider error.  And even very, very experienced riders can make mistakes.

One rider I knew rode head-on into a metal gate that had been shut to close the road.  In his posthumous defense, that barrier had not been closed for many years, and the concept that it might be shut probably didn't register in his mind, much like the way we sometimes blow through newly-erected stop signs when we first encounter them.

But that accident was a tragic fluke; not down to rider skill apart from human frailty.  Usually, single vehicle accidents have a clear relation to experience.  Experience on a bike, experience with the particular bike the rider is on, and most importantly experience with the road.

For example, another rider who crashed earlier this month took his fall by running wide on a left turn, hitting the dirt, and getting ejected into the hillside. (Street bikes with street tires don't handle or brake well in dirt).  He'll survive, but with a partially-metallic shoulder and future problems with airport scanners.  From all I've heard, the man was an experienced rider, but not on Angeles Crest.

The Crest is not a particularly difficult road to ride, technically, but it does lure you into complacency then throw something unexpected at you:  one turn tightens when you don't think it will; another has an off-camber exit that also makes your bike want to run wide.  There are also lots and lots of otherwise easy turns that bother the inexperienced because they involve changing elevation uphill or downhill.  The uninitiated brake too much or too little, throttle too much or too little.

Just yesterday I witnessed the aftermath of a simple, non-injury low-side fall (where the bike falls over on it's closest side to the pavement, a bit like someone sliding into home base - only without the joy).  The drop took place in a set of two turns that are tighter than you'd think they'd be after the wide-open turns that precede them.  They also feature a significant change in elevation.  These are easy turns for those who have ridden them, but complicated to even experienced riders who haven't seen them before (and made more complicated recently courtesy of slippery tar 'snakes' laid down to seal cracks in the road surface).

Sadly for that faller, his bike was a very expensive Ducati Desmosedici - sort of a high-end Ferrari of the biking world.  Although it ran and he rode it away, I expect that learning experience will be costly.

SUMMING UP

Looking back over this post, it's clear I've been rambling a bit; my brain free-running and not as well-controlled as I'd like.  But that is appropriate in a sense, because my main point in this blog post is that accidents on roads like Angeles Crest are mostly avoidable through experience.  With experience comes control - of your bike and of yourself.  We may be vulnerable and reliant on others for our safety on city streets and highways, but on those mountain, canyon, or back-country roads we motorcyclists love best, it's really up to us.

Ride Well and Ride Safe ...

Crusader Duck

What would your ideal be for the leader of this nation?

My thoughts immediately turn to the portrayal of John F. Kennedy by William Devane in the original 'Missiles of October'.  Intelligent, with a fiery personality, but cautious in making decisions.  Someone who, in a crisis, tries to get expert opinion from across the spectrum, but finally makes his own decision, based on the firm belief that less is often more, and respectful is better than vengeful.  A moral person, taking the most humane path possible.

Only in movies?  Probably so.

But it's not a bad model to shoot for.

Our leader should be firmly committed to a form of Hippocratic oath;  first do no harm. The only way to make that so is to hold your fire until you are sure of the path and the action.  A chess game, as it were, where you must think many moves out, and look for the path to your goal that costs both you and your opponent the least.

Passing the two contestants of this Fall's Election through this filter, gives neither a scare nor a smile.  Neither fit the mold exactly, but both do far better than the alternatives that have fallen by the wayside.

You could say we're ahead of the game, but the final outcome is in limbo.

Mitt Romney does not bring to mind JFK or even William Devane's fictional portrayal of him.  When I think of Mr. Romney in that movie I see him caving to the military and bombing the crap out of Cuba, with the likely result we would have received a nuke along our Eastern Seaboard in reply.  Maybe even WWIII.  We could all be living in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future right now, which, among other interesting possibilities, would have saved Hollywood the cost of countless box office bombs about the subject.

Barrack Obama isn't tons better.  He'd be more thoughtful and he'd push back at the military, but maybe too hard and too brusquely.  They'd be pissed, stage a coup, and bomb Cuba anyway.  Or perhaps he'd dither too long and those missiles would have been activated and, well, game over.

But of these two, I'd rather have the current President Obama in office for the next four years.  He's been a bit of an unsteady Crusader his first term, alternately tilting at windmills and breaking bread with windmill makers, but that hasn't been entirely unproductive.  And at least he's been active, not passive, as I suspect a Romney Presidency would be.

Of course, Obama comes with one deficit.  His next term would be his last, meaning he'll be a Lame Duck.  There's a benefit there, in that he'd be able to focus on issues and not worry about re-election.  Trouble is, there is also no reason anyone will have to work with him, since he'll be out of power before too long, and they can certainly wait out the time, even if the country can't.

There's an antidote to that problem:  have an electable Vice President who is ready and willing to assume the office after Obama's second term ends.  Sadly, that isn't the case with Joe Biden.  Smart, dedicated, and a talented public servant he may be, but he's not electable.  Not by a long shot.

Which leaves the Nation with a tough decision:  do we want our leader to be milquetoast Romney or Obama the Crusader Duck?

I'll take the Duck, and continue to Hope ...

Foolishness

As these words appear on my screen, it's the 23rd of April, yet you'd never know it wasn't still the 1st, Fool's Day.

All sorts of foolishness has oozed up this month, but by far the most foolish, and ooziest, has to be the repeal by Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin's law to ensure equal pay for women.  Why a purportedly sentient being living in 21st century America would attempt to reverse nearly seventy years of progress in gender equality baffles me.  The concept that jumping back to pre-WWII conditions is a good idea borders on insanity.  But then, this is the same Governor who took away worker's collective bargaining rights, essentially punting the working man and his not-equally-paid female colleagues right back to the 1930s.

Some conservatives will see Walker's actions as a move to improve family values, by ensuring that at least  one member of a marriage (and that needs to be man-woman, mind you) has to be focused on home, hearth, and family.  And since that was their traditional duty, why not make that one the woman?  So let's discourage her from seeking a career in business, or government, or anything outside the home.

And his take on bargaining rights?  That will ensure a rise in corporate profits due to savings in labor costs.  Sure why not?  If hourly wages drop low enough, Wisconsin could become the new Mexico (make that new Thailand) of exported labor.  To make that official, Walker should secede Wisconsin from the Union and re-apply for protectorate status, sort of like Puerto Rico, or maybe Guam.

But lest I rant on poor Walker too much, let me point out another piece of foolishness that had nothing to do with the Governor, or his downtrodden CheeseHeads:  long-range ballistic missiles. Specifically, why one kind that doesn't work is worse than another that works fearsomely well.

As is becoming a routine spectacle, the North Koreans failed to get their long-range missile to fly.  It sputtered and popped and doggedly avoided leaving home base.  Meanwhile, India got theirs to not only leave Mother Earth, but return successfully at the end of a very long range indeed.  Enough distance to reach most points in China, probably all of the Middle East, and maybe a few European destinations.

The foolish part?  World governments went ballistic about North Korea's flub, but remained absolutely silent on India's success.  Sure India is a democracy, but democracies aren't immune to mistakes (isn't that right, America?)

I could go on;  April's been packed solid with silliness, but taking up any more of your time would be foolish; especially if you live in Wisconsin:  you've got unequally (and poorly) paid work to do...

Thoughts While Under The Influence

It's been a long day here in La La Land, and I'll admit I've softened the impact with a glass of wine or three. I'm not what the Brits would call 'in my cups', but I am feeling pretty good.

Perhaps because of the chemical lubrication, or perhaps in spite of it, I feel the need to unburden myself of a few thoughts I've held in, for fear of offending delicate sensibilities, some of whom I'm related to. But I can hold silent no longer ...

Rick Santorum is a wannabe theocratic demagogue. At least that's what his persona as related through the news tells me. If he became President, I expect the population of Canada will swell (as long as they'll take refugees). If he became President, I expect there will be succession. A Santorum Presidency might be California's best excuse to become an independent country. I'd say it would be Texas', but that otherwise admirably independent-minded state seems to like theocratic demagogues, so they'll likely stay put.

Newt Gingrich is a tiresome joke that has been told too many times. I get the joke. It's not funny. Go away.

Mitt Romney is a soulless zombie politician. It seems he asks his handlers every day, "What should I say? What position should I take? Where am I?" If there is a real person with cogent thoughts hiding under that ever-variable veneer, I haven't seen it. Of course, that is part of the game: give the hardcore conservatives a reason to believe Mitt is their Man, while perpetuating the idea that underneath the rhetoric Romney is a Man of Reason, who'll do what's right, and not stick to dogmatic positions. There is a very slight chance the latter view may be at least partially true, but I can't sleep at night thinking to what depths a Romney Presidency might stoop to to get re-elected.

And President Obama's not off my hook either. What a huge disappointment he's been to those of us who supported his candidacy in 2008. With a supermajority in both houses of Congress for his first two years, all he got done (that John McCain wouldn't have done) was a Health Care Bill that did NOT contain the logical, hoped-for public option that all of his supporters wanted. And the wars: we are still in Afghanistan; we are actually still in Iraq (not that you'd notice from the news). After 10 years and counting, thousands of deaths of Americans and our allies, and tens (if not hundreds) of thousands dead among Iraqi and Afghan combatants and civilians, what are we left with? Two governments their people hate, and which show us no respect publicly. Allies who harbor our most wanted enemies. Obama inherited a tough situation with this, but he was elected with a mandate to GET US OUT, and he hasn't followed through. In fact, if he were a Republican, the GOP would laud his every move in foreign affairs.

But to be fair, Obama has had a horribly uphill battle, every day of his Presidency. I'll come right out and say it - racism is a least a part of this. No other President in living memory has been called a 'liar' in Congress, has been openly accused without evidence of hijacking liberty, of being socialist, of being a closet Muslim, of not even being American. You just can sense what some people would like to call him openly, but they can't except in closed rooms among similar and safely wrong-minded individuals.

Politicians aren't the only creatures that fuel my ire. Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat, Idiot. Oh wait, Senator Al Franken said that in his past life as a satirist. Still true, though. That anyone still listens to him for ANY reason, even as a campy, "he's so awful he's good" kind of lark, is beyond belief. Limbaugh is pure human poison.

And organizations are real pissers too. Fox News is a terrible, terrible, paste-up of biased opinion. The channel has long since abandoned any pretense of 'fair and balanced' and openly targets perceived enemies. The closest channel to Fox in it's intense bias is Russian Television (the 'RT' channel). Ever seen it? Every story on that channel, most of which are anchored by what seem to be American or British ex-patriots, is slanted to diss the USA and selected other western countries. The resemblance in slanted newsmaking (if not in actual opinion) to Fox is hilarious as well as deeply disturbing.

CNN has lost its way (and maybe its corporate mind). This may not be anyone's fault, but more along the lines of 'this time has passed, please move on'. Only, CNN won't give up, go away, or move in any particular direction, it just straggles on as a strange hybrid of serious news and lightly-informed opinion. I'd like to tell CNN to shape up, but I'm not sure there is anything to really be done except fade out.

And it's not just the cable channels. Our primary news outlets feed us headlines that are either generic and devoid of facts, or are pointedly biased. Local news feeds us an endless litany of robberies, rapes, murders, and police chases. No wonder most of us are depressed - and thus need a bit of libation to soften the fall of day.

But chemical palliatives aren't our only options. Politicians, abrasively outrageous personalities, and both Fox and CNN all serve as fodder for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. These two comedy shows are the mental health lifelines for a majority of well-educated Americans, who otherwise would go insane from the daily crap flung their way in the news. These shows are GOOD THINGS. But they also happen to be bad things too, in the sense they offer us an outlet for our frustrations other than writing rabid letters to representatives, protesting, or organizing unions. While I watch Stewart or Colbert - while I am laughing at the well-written and performed bits, I am sometimes disturbed by the feeling that this may be part of some evil plan to draw off my energy, to pacify me. A new opiate of the masses kind of thing.

And with that last thought I realize I am entirely sober again. Of course the coffee helped. Did I mention I made a cup before beginning this screed?

Super T and The Big Three

I'm not sure how many of you watched any part of the Super Tuesday election coverage, or, if you did, what network you tuned to.

Whether you did or not, paid attention or not, I can tell you now that it was much ado about nothing, more or less.

Romney won some and lost some, Santorum strutted like a prize Turkey about his almost-there 2nd place in Ohio, and Gingrich ran the table in Georgia and kept hopes of relevancy (barely) alive.

In the process, the candidates upped their attacks on our sitting President, with Romney inferring the Obama administration has hijacked our liberty. I assume this is one more reference to the clause in the Health Reform Law that requires everyone to have insurance or pay a penalty.

Whatever. This refrain is getting tiresome from the Repubs. There are several good and valid criticisms they could raise against Obama, not least of which is Eric Holder's recent statement that assassination of American citizens abroad by our government does not constitute a denial of their rights to due process. As if their rights to confront their accusers and be tried by a jury weren't part of 'due process', or could be granted in absentia through some sort of surrogate process (who wants to play the terrorist defendant this week?)

But I'm guessing the Republicans are silent because either they - or a majority of their supporters - tend to agree with the President that liberty can be hijacked in this particular situation.

It's sad to say and worse to realize, but this is the state of our public and political discourse now. We make extreme statements, often supported by words and deeds taken out of context, and use them to assault those with whom we disagree. Whether this disagreement is one of true substance or only based on semantics or procedural details seems to make little difference in this all-out war for the hearts and pocketbooks of the electorate.

Super Tuesday may have been a harbinger of things to come. An 'Al Capone's Safe' of political thought, opened in prime time, to reveal not very much really.

Which is about what We The People will be getting come November, one way or the other.

Where's The News?

Lately I've been having flashbacks to that 1980's 'Where's The Beef' commercial, only I'm wondering where all our News has gone. Try surfing through any TV channel, but especially the cable ones, and you'll be hard pressed to find anything resembling News more than superficially.

And don't even think about the internet options. For some reason, Yahoo! News, a service I had come to like and peruse daily, has lately changed to a slate of opinions and fluff pieces. I do access it mainly on an iPad now, so perhaps someone has pieced together info on me from that iOS data-hole and concluded I'm an air-head California Kid. (I must try to act my age on the internet).

It's not that I'm a masochist or anything. I don't desire to be depressed by all the bad News in the world; but I do want to be informed, and I want it as 'just the facts, please'. I'll supply the opinion, thank you very much.

Surprisingly, I did find some Real News recently; of all places in the newspaper. My opinion of our local rag, the Los Angeles Times, had fallen to the point it typically was shuffled from the front porch straight under the dog, without reading. The other day, though, I happened to glance at a few of the back pages, and - Whoa - I stopped in my tracks. Real News, and mainly the facts, in article after article. A veritable News Bonanza!

I'm hoping this is a new trend: newspapers, in their desperation, resorting to actual reportage of factual News, in an effort to differentiate from the increasingly mindless televised, posted, streamed, and tweeted mixed bag of fact, opinion, and near-fiction.

That one edition may have been a fluke, or this trend may not last. In the meantime, though, the dog will have to hold it in, or pee outside for a change.