apple juice

What really happened in Libya?

On Libya, Biden Let Ryan Get Away with Murder (Smith):

“Even more stunning were the events of September 22. In a pre-planned protest, the citizens of Benghazi marched 30,000 strong, calling for Islamist militias to be disbanded and incorporated into the national army. Some of the protesters carried banners memorializing Chris Stevens and chanted pro-American slogans. At the end of their march, the protesters ransacked the headquarters of the militias responsible for the consulate attack and drove them out of town. In a parallel action, the Libyan government redoubled its ongoing drive to clear militias from Tripoli. The Libya Herald attributed this action in part to the death of Ambassador Stevens, who was beloved by Libyans and has become something of a martyr for law and order. Clearly Stevens did not die in vain. His sacrifice may have accomplished more for the future of Libya than Romney’s proposed two trillion-dollar increase in military spending ever could.”

(Via Informed Comment.)

PolitiFact | Fact-checking the vice presidential debate:

“Ryan, in his closing statement, said Obama ‘made his choices,’ including ‘a government takeover of health care.’ The phrase is simply not true. ‘Government takeover’ conjures a European approach where the government owns the hospitals and the doctors are public employees. But Obama’s health care law relies largely on the free market.  We voted ‘a government takeover of health care’ our Lie of the Year for 2010.”

The 6 Studies Paul Ryan Cited Prove Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan Is Impossible – Matthew O’Brien – The Atlantic:

“In other words, Romney’s plan only works if you assume he has a different plan or use a magic growth asterisk. And that means we have no idea what he would do if he wins. Does he care more about his tax rate cuts, about not hiking taxes on the middle class, or not increasing the deficit? His adviser Kevin Hassett suggested they would back off the high-end tax rate cuts if it would increase the deficit, but Romney quickly denied that. He’s also denied reality, by relying on studies that only prove his critics’ point.”

Easily the most wonky, policy oriented blog post you’ll read this week. If you want to understand the budgets proposed by Ryan and Obama, it’s important to read.

And I’m not saying that spending shouldn’t be reduced…

The Ryan Sinkhole – NYTimes.com: 

“Function 920 represents a category called ‘allowances’ that captures the budgetary effects of cross-cutting proposals or contingencies that impact multiple functions rather than one specific area of the budget. It also represents a place-holder category for any budgetary impacts that the Congressional Budget Office has yet to assign to a specific budget function. C.B.O. typically reassigns the budgetary effects of any legislation enacted within Function 920 once a new baseline update is released.”

Offspring, anyone?

Segregated bike lanes the way of the future

“A main theme that emerged was the need for cities to create a network of separated bicycle lanes, said Jamie Stuckless, an active transportation planner who works with Green Communities Canada in Ottawa.

‘The first one that I heard repeated over and over again was the need to create a network of segregated bike lanes that actually get people where they want to go,’ Stuckless said.

Stuckless said she was surprised by the number of city officials from around the world who spoke to say that painted bike lanes are a thing of the past and they are no longer investing money in that type of infrastructure.“

Emphasis mine

(Via The Case for Separated Bike Lanes – Commute – The Atlantic Cities.)

I would argue that it’s all good, bike lanes and separated bikeways. It all adds raising the profile of the biker as part of the transportation mix of a city. Locally, the bike boulevard on Bryant ave is a step in the right direction, but the Midtown Greenway and Cedar Lake Trail are the gold standard. Imagine a network of Midtown Greenway-esque extending 10 miles out in downtown minneapolis in hub and spoke fashion. Would make it pretty nice to commute by bike without mixing it up with the cars. Closing Bryant ave. to all cars except local traffic might be interesting…

Maybe the RNC was just what Obama’s campaign needed…

There were a number of “are you kidding me?!?!?” moments during the republican convention. In particular for me was when Romney made a sanctimonious and sarcastic joke about the oceans rising. Just goes to show you exactly how some Republicans feel about the environment. (or at least, the people that Romney’s internal polling said would be most motivated by that statement)

Anyway, mocking a President for attempting to shepherd the country into a more environmentally-responsible future seems a little rich. Isn’t it a moral issue to treat the environment with respect?

Likewise, with health care. I’ve read a number of posts that basically make a moral case with regards to health care:

→ Bugged

“when we as a country have become so small and stingy and mean that we cheer the idea of ripping medical care away from fellow citizens, offering nothing in its place but sanctimony and self-rightenousness… What are we? We’re not a country. We’re not a community.”

(Via Marco.org.)

More people with health care is a good thing I wish people would stop acting like it is everything but.

You have to admit, it was weird…

Clint Eastwood, GOP convention: The Romney campaign sells out its surprise speaker. – Slate Magazine

“They screwed up the un-screwuppable. This was like having one of the featured guests at the State of the Union drop his trousers on camera. If you botch that, how are you going to execute the more complicated constitutional duties? Mitt Romney can’t handle Clint Eastwood trying to do him a favor, and he wants to take on unfriendly negotiations with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Vladimir Putin?”