Drilling in the ANWR

What with gas prices being high, the issue of drilling in ANWR has come back to prominence, particularly because McCain's lack of support for the idea has angered many Republicans. In particular, The Corner has been harping on this for a few days. There's one thing about the discussion that's particularly bizarre, and while I've been proscrastinating on posting about this, Ana Marie Cox noticed too:

One of the helpful myths that keeps that idea alive irks me to distraction: The idea that it's okay to drill in ANWR because it isn't pretty. (Jonah Goldberg is a real leader in this field, having mined this particular "mosquito-plagued tundra" since 2001.)

Bush was a big part of this too, arguing that ANWR is a "great white nothing." But the more recent discussion gets even weirder. The Cornerites have been falling overthemselves in contrasting ANWR and the Grand Canyon. This initially came up because McCain said he opposed drilling in ANWR for the same reasons he would oppose drilling in the Grand Canyon: because they should both be kept pristine. Fine, good answer. But then the Cornerites threw up a million posts discussing how many visitors ANWR gets compared with the Grand Canyon, etc. Are they stupid, or just disingenuous? Whether ANWR is a nice tourist attraction is not only not the point, the whole idea is that ANWR should be as free as possible from human intrusion and development.

The other thing that gets me is that even most supporters of drilling in ANWR now acknowledge that such a drilling scheme would only go a very small way towards shoring up America's oil supply, but they still think it should be done. Why? My guess is that they now see the whole ANWR controvery as a right-versus-left issue and that they simply want to win the argument.

Scientology and Free Speech

C4 had an interesting report on a disturbing trend in the UK. Police are cracking down on critics of Scientology. One man was prosecuted for using the word 'cult' in a placard, but he won the case. You still can't use the words 'evil' or 'brain-washed' without fear of arrest.



Via Ben Goldacre.

Cycling Route Planner

A cycling route planner for Greater Vancouver is now in beta-testing. Check it out. Other than a few bugs, it seems to do a good job. Has some nice adjustable parameters like maximum slope and speed, and inclusion or exclusion of major roads.

Obama channels Cuomo?

Yeah, Fox News isn't even trying anymore.

Via Sullivan.

Meet Thomas Sowell, Wanker

Every once in a while I hear someone refer to Thomas Sowell as one of the great political and economic thinkers of our time. Now, I'm no expert on Sowell, but this garbage tells you a lot about him:

At a time like this, we do not have the luxury of waiting for our ideal candidate or of indulging our emotions by voting for some third party candidate to show our displeasure — at the cost of putting someone in the White House who is not up to the job.

Senator John McCain has been criticized in this column many times. But, when all is said and done, Senator McCain has not spent decades aiding and abetting people who hate America.

On the contrary, he has paid a huge price for resisting our enemies, even when they held him prisoner and tortured him. The choice between him and Barack Obama should be a no-brainer.

Obama aids and abets people who hate America? What a disgusting, idiotic wanker Sowell is.

Anatomy of a Slander

Meet Larry Johnson, wanker.

Words for Lieberman

Good for Obama.

Obama's Nomination Victory Speech

Worth watching if you have a few minutes.

Skydiving Record

According to this Globe and Mail article, Michael Fournier, the Frenchman attempting to break the skydiving record, should have been back on the ground by 7 AM this morning if everything went according to plan. Searching around and I don't see any word yet.

Update: Ah-ha - postponed till tomorrow.

Finally

McCain rejects Hagee's extremism and his endorsement. And then tries to turn the focus back on Obama.

John McCain's Spiritual Advisors are Insane

Discuss.

Decemberists Mania

I think it's hilarious that right-wingers actually believe believe this.

The Market Hates Obama?

Quick, somebody give Larry Kudlow a lesson in correlation versus causation.

Vancouver in 1907

The earliest film footage of Vancouver has recently been rediscovered and cleaned up. You can see a preview at The Province website or order a copy of the DVD here. It looks pretty cool. The filmmaker attached his camera to the front of a downtown streetcar and just let it run basically. The city, although very young in 1907, seemed like a pretty happening place.

He's Eating My Brain

A Saanich man survives a Grizzly attack by playing dead. I love the fact that he fits in a complaint about road maintenance.

Obama in Portland

An estimated 50,000 people turn out. Doesn't hurt that it's a gorgeous day here in the Northwest.

Bicycling on Burrard Bridge

So yesterday I had to pick up my bike at a bikeshop at the intersection of Burrard and Pacific, and afterward I headed back Southbound across the Burrard Bridge on my bike. If you've walked or biked on that bridge, you know that cyclists and pedestrians are forced to share a very narrow walkway, and that said walkway is separated from traffic by a ledge of maybe 6 inches or so. Just after the halfway point of the bridge, as I was cycling alongside pedestrians on a sunny late afternoon, a jogger alongside me blindly moved from the pedestrian lane to the cycling lane in order to pass some walkers, failing to look behind him for cyclists. I was able to quickly swerve and he brushed my handlebars, and I didn't lose stability. But if his timing or my timing had been slightly different, I likely would have been body-checked into traffic. Since then, I've been fuming about how a careless jogger could have been responsible for me sustaining serious injuries or being killed.

I know that Vancouver has plans to put bicycle lanes on the Burrard Bridge sometime after the Olympics, but it's absolutely unacceptable that the current situation will be maintained in the interim. Since I'm fairly new to the city and luckily don't have to cross that bridge very often, I don't know how frequently such accidents occur, but a few seconds' Googling brought up this story:

Every day, hundreds of people cycle over the shared path on the Burrard Bridge, one of Vancouver's busiest. Jane Lister was one of them, until her commute home from work one day.

Halfway across the bridge, she swerved to avoid some pedestrians.

"My first memory is the sensation of a tube being pulled from my throat. I broke all the ribs on my left side, and had punctured and collapsed lungs. I fell into a mini van, and my head kind of got trapped between the car and the curb."

It may sound like just another accident between a cyclist and a car, but - in this case - neither was to blame. Instead, the problem was cyclists, pedestrians, dog-walkers and runners forced to share the same narrow path.

Her scenario was exactly the same as mine, except she was thrown into traffic and nearly killed. I agree that the blame is primarily due to the shared path, but a cyclist shouldn't have to suddenly swerve to avoid pedestrians on a shared path. Pedestrians need to stay on the pedestrian side of the walkway. But the city is responsible. Jane Lister sued the city and got a settlement. The city had been aware of the problem and hadn't done anything to remedy it. That was more than four years ago.

Polar Bears

Hey look, the US made the right decision.

Bullshit

I have to say, this is refreshing. Best bit:

“He’s the guy who’s weakened us. He’s the guy that’s increased the number of terrorists in the world. His policies have produced this vulnerability the United States has. His intelligence community pointed that out not me. The NIE has pointed that out and what are you talking about, is he going to fire Condi Rice? Condi Rice has talked about the need to sit down. So his first two appeasers are Rice and Gates. I hope he comes home and does something.”

Thanks, Joe.

Unassailable

It's all over except the concession. The MSM pundits are finally recognizing the fact that Obama's lead is unassailable. I predict Clinton withdraws by early next week.