Bike impressions and some news.

Bike Impressions

I have put about 40 miles on my bike since getting it on Sunday. Jacksonville is pretty hilly, so i have only been able to do about 7-10 miles at a time after riding intermittently for a month. When I first brought the bike home it needed a good tuning. The rear dérailleur would skip in the middle of the range, the brakes were off center (though they looked hardly used) and the limits on the front dérailleur were incorrect. In fact, I got the impression that the bike had never gotten its original “out of box” tuning, lending credence to my belief that its former owner hardly rode it. About a half hour of sitting on the floor in my garage and everything runs smoothly. The rear shifting is seamless, quick and accurate, and the brakes stop the bike quickly with little effort. My favorite feature so far is the ability to “quick shift” up to three gears at a time in the rear, something that could be done, de facto, on my old bike by just twisting the shifter more, but this shift is non-sequential and occurs just as quickly as shifting a single gear. The bike weighs in at 24 lbs with pedals, post, saddle and a bag that contains a lighter, presta valve adapter and a multi tool; about average, even slightly on the heavy side when compared to its aluminum cousins, but still about 13 lbs lighter than my other (smaller) bike. The ride is smooth, and I don't regret giving up the front suspension as the combination of a carbon fiber fork and steel frame dampens most vibrations. Aside from being lighter, lower friction and generally easier to pedal I am appreciating the shifting system. On my old bike, going up a hill required choosing a gear and sticking with it, as any significant shifts took long enough that what little momentum I had built up in the drive train would be canceled by the shift. Now I can shift, front or back, up or down, smoothly, while still applying considerable force to the pedals without causing gear skipping, drive shifting of chain popping. It is amazing. One feature I am torn about is the clipless pedal system. The shoes and pedals give a VERY considerable mechanical advantage to the rider, allowing for a more consistent stroke and allow power to be applied to the upstroke as well as the downstroke. The major drawback? The shoes. They are comfortable and all, but they are WORTHLESS for walking, as they have a big piece of plastic attached to the front of the shoe. Anytime I go anywhere I have to take a pair of sandals as well, which isn't a problem, but once I get to where I am going I have nowhere to put the bike shoes. I cant imagine I would actually wear them while commuting to class. Luckily the pedals have enough of a cross section I think I will be able to ride the mile or two to and from school using regular shoes and or sandals.

Some US news

There have been some fairly important political happenings in the United States political arena in the past few months, that my European colleagues may be interested in.

First of all, today the Senate Judiciary committee subpoenaed the office of the president and vice president to turn over documents relating to the administrations domestic wiretapping program. This is the latest in a string of oversight subpoenas that began with an investigation into the firing of 8 US attorneys, but has began to expose possible corruption in the justice department and its dealings with the whitehouse.

Summer time is of course, supreme court decision time and this year has been very interesting so far. There have been several high profile 5-4 decisions, divided along partisan lines, with newly appointed justices Alito and Roberts acting, as expected, as shills for the GOP (pardon the editorializing). So far the court has struck down the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act by saying that a pro-life PAC's right to run political ads mentioning candidates by name within a month of an election was a form of protected speech.

The court made it clear however, that free speech was not a universal right, stating that a high school student did not have an unconditional right to engage in non-disruptive speech at a school event, especially if the speech could possibly be construed as promoting drug use. You may remember the “Bong hits for Jesus” kid from about 5 years ago when he displayed a banner with the infamous message across the street from a school event celebrating the Olympic torch marathon. The majority opinion, in my view, was asinine. For a well reasoned, though out view of the case, read the dissenting opinion (pdf) written by Justice Stevens, which not only addresses the specifics of the case:

"the Court does serious violence to the First Amendment in upholding -- indeed, lauding -- a school's decision to punish Frederick for expressing a view with which it disagreed."

but goes beyond it, and outlines what may be the highest criticism of the drug war in its history:

“…the current dominant opinion supporting the war on drugs in general, and our antimarijuana laws in particular, is reminiscent of the opinion that supported the nationwide ban on alcohol consumption when I was a student. While alcoholic beverages are now regarded as ordinary articles of commerce, their use was then condemned with the same moral fervor that now supports the war on drugs. The ensuing change in public opinion occurred much more slowly than the relatively rapid shift in Americans’ views on the Vietnam War, and progressed on a state-by-state basis over a period of many years. But just as prohibition in the 1920’s and early 1930’s was secretly questioned by thousands of otherwise law-abiding patrons of bootleggers and speakeasies, today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law-abiding users of marijuana,9 and of the majority of voters in each of the several States that tolerate medicinal uses of the product,10 lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority is silencing opponents of the war on drugs. Surely our national experience with alcohol should make us wary of dampening speech suggesting—however inarticulately—that it would be better to tax and regulate marijuana than to persevere in a futile effort to ban its use entirely.”

Finally, a movie has been released on the internet, showing a police officer abusing a group of teenage skaters that has received much discussion. If this doesn't piss you off, you should pretty much just bend over and let the police state rape you in the ass whenever they want.