spdntrxi

Politics is supposed to be frustrating... it's not supposed be well if congress won't act I going to do it anyways.

himespau 

The thing is, everybody has a vested interest in getting nothing done. I mean if you undo the thing about your opponent that has your base hopping mad, then you won't have a rallying point for them any more. And if you proactively do something new (instead of tear down something the other party did), you're out on a limb hoping it will work, and you have to come up with something new. It's much easier to give a half assed effort and then say, "those other guys stopped me from getting <my really good idea here> done, but next time we're going to slip it past them." And so nothing gets done because no one really wants to get anything done. Much easier to get fat and lazy off the teat of the lobbyists and your constituents, and screw the little people.

I'm kind of an odd case in that on some issues, I'm very leftish and on others I'm very much to the right. Overall, I would probably be somewhere in the middle if I actually believed anybody would get anything done (I still vote though, just with very eclectic ballots).

As far as the whole marriage things goes, I've always felt marriage was a uniquely religious institution. Since I believe in the separation of church and state, I never felt the government had the right to regulate who could get married. I think it should be up to individual religions/religious institutions who should marry who (if you're not happy with who religion X lets marry, find one that works for you - there are a bunch - and give them your money/time) and the government should butt the hell out. Since I do recognize that they need to protect people from abuse and taxes and whatnot and keep people from marrying 12 year olds, I've felt that we should all be getting civil unions via paperwork instead of marriage licenses. Since civil unions are a government institution, denying anyone them would have been a violation of the 14th amendment as the supremes declared about marriage. So in the end, everyone getting the same right (while religions can do whatever they want) is sort of what I wanted and is what we finally ended with, but I just wish the government would have used a different word to describe it to keep the religious bit and the civil rights bit separate. I'm by no means saying I wish some people couldn't marry (if my cousin's marriage to her wife hadn't been in the Netherlands, I would have loved to have been there - and personally think everyone should be able to marry whoever they love and use that word if they can find a religion, including the church of the flying spaghetti monster, that says it's cool), but I just don't like the government using that word.

mattm

not everyone is in to religion, ya know.

spectastic

I take the ron paul stance on marriage, that it should not need a license, all that paperwork, and all that time. Rather, it should just be an agreement between two human beings, and should they decide to split, it's as easy as a handshake with a priest, rabbi, whatever. None of that divorce lawyer, I get half of your asset, I get the kid 5 days/week bull****. work it out. and moreover, there won't be a need to waste time and money on this worthless supreme court case about this worthless made up issue. So I guess to that effect, I'm advocating for the separation of church and state.

Ygduf

all feel free to let me know if you listen to the podcast/interview.

next up, for-profit prisons, drug laws, and the inexorable march of progress.

misterwaterfall

Yea, because that would work well in our society. People sue for cracks in the sidewalk causing injury let alone money kids and alamony. I want to live in your world if you think there's any shot people can get divorced and remain civilized 100% of the time.

echappist

don't forget campaign finance and tax structure that has more holes than swiss cheese.

gsteinb

I did, and do. Though I'm not sure I'd advocate for a non legal agreement.

shovelhd

Do you know if it is written up anywhere?

Ygduf

Marc Maron and Barack Obama interview on Monday?s WTF podcast.

some bits there, but it doesn't do it justice.

spdntrxi

I'd rather read then listen to Obama's voice.. so this would be my preference as well.

topflightpro

This was a pretty crappy day on the bike.

First, I was hit by a car as I was rolling out of my neighborhood. A woman, who I assume is a neighbor, rolled through a stop sign and hit me. Fortunately, she was going slow, and I was able to turn away a bit to minimize the impact. She ended up just hitting the rear of my bike, and I was able to keep it upright. She apologized as I yelled at her, then she drove away. That's when I realized how messed up my rear wheel was. I am pretty sure it's going to need a complete rebuild.

After that, I nearly decided to just go home, but instead swapped rear wheels and went for my ride.

Later, a small light blue van in the oncoming lane, swerved over the double yellow line at me. I've never had that happen before. Maybe he was just not paying attention or texting and swerved out of his lane accidentally, but it didn't seem like it.

Then shortly before I got home, an old lady laid on her horn just because I was there. I've encountered her before. I don't really know what her problem is.

It was almost enough to make want to quit riding.

Also, my wife went to the orthopedist today. (There is a new ortho clinic near here that handles walk ins and is open on the weekends.) She crashed last weekend and still wasn't feeling much better. Turns out she cracked her hip. The injury is apparently pretty common among the elderly when they fall out of bed. So no riding for her for 6 to 8 weeks.

echappist

sorry to hear of your troubles. Speedy recovery to your wife.

btw, did you get insurance info from the driver who hit you?

furiousferret

Ugh, it can only get better @topflightpro.

big john

When I toured in the South this was such a common thing I told my friends I thought they taught it in school.The driver would cross the line and head toward us and at the last second pull away and shout or spit.

When I would tell friendly locals about it they would be shocked. Must have gone to different schools.

island rider

I'm thinking of hanging up the bike. The major driving factors: 1) My wife hates it. 2) The number of people I know IRL and here who have crashed, gotten hit or hurt riding lately has risen this year exponentially. 3) I am starting to have very little desire to lose large pieces of my weekend to racing. 4) I started playing golf again and realized how much I miss it.

Much of this might be because I haven't raced all that much this year, so I need to get it back into my blood. Or because I expected better results after training so steadily through the winter, but... there you have it.

Could this just be a summer doldrums?

Grumpy McTrumpy

Cycling becomes much more rewarding when you switch from being results-oriented to process-oriented.

revchuck 

This. Plus, I was a caddy during high school...golf won't eat up less of your weekend. And 18 holes won't keep you from being fat like cycling will.

mike868y

+1 to this sentiment. i'd hate cycling if i let results affect me.

Wylde06

I would have quit after my first race.

globecanvas

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value." - Albert Einstein

gsteinb

island rider should quit. This is clearly not for him.

globecanvas

You can stop racing or riding for a while without "quitting," too.

island rider

Wow, you guys really keyed in on one part of that... but I guess it's in the way I phrased it. I don't think the lack of results is really it. I think it has more to do with so much solo training and so little racing and looking at a calendar where the closest race I have for the rest of the summer is like a 3 hour round trip.

gsteinb

Don't ram your demonic lawless logic down our throats.