Rocky Hillside

Image by Toru_Okada. Some rights reserved.

This implies that he's going to do the right thing and veto this POS.

(Right.)

I'm tempted to elaborate, but why bother. I've said it all before. We're screwed. We've surrendered.

Google Labs can save you from yourself:

Mail Goggles
by Jon P

Google strives to make the world's information useful. Mail you send late night on the weekends may be useful but you may regret it the next morning. Solve some simple math problems and you're good to go. Otherwise, get a good night's sleep and try again in the morning. After enabling this feature, you can adjust the schedule in the "General" settings page.

An add-in to gmail.

If Congress doesn't raise the debt limit and there's no ensuing crisis, Obama will look like a fool.

Image by Ojisanjake at More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan.

Whether you are interested in Japan or not, More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan is a great blog.

Ojisanjake is a talented photographer -- really and truly. Typically he photographs places I will never visit. And, his images capture things that I wouldn't see even if I were there.

He expands my world and makes me more aware of my own. And that's the greatest praise one can give an artist.

Here are two recent posts that do just that.

Image by Lec. Some rights reserved.

Ah, freedom! Not freedom for me. That's not worth mentioning. Freedom of the corporations that want to sell me stuff and control my life, so that I will keep buying their stuff.

I can't use my new cellphone, because the manufacturer's website isn't working and won't create an account. An account I don't want and will never use.

Can't even get past that part of the setup. When I do, I know my phone will have a collection of absurd applications that can't be removed because my cellphone carrier hopes to drain more bucks from me.

Why can't I just buy a cellphone? And then buy cellphone service? A cellphone that works and isn't tied to five corporations and a single carrier? Cellphone service that works and doesn't require a contract?

Because the free market has determined that giving me less freedom of choice makes more money for corporations. Somehow I don't feel an urge to wave the flag and sing patriotic songs.

The true miracle of the free market is that it has eradicated our self-determination and did so without even a whimper. We are slaves to corporations.

I hope they will at least be merciful enough to let me have my social security when the time comes. But that seems increasingly unlikely.

we get Republicans?

Denver's ostensibly Democratic mayor, Michael Hancock, just appointed Janice Sinden as his chief of staff.

Registered Republican. Works for a business group. Formerly worked for ghastly incompetent Republican U.S. Senator Wayne Allard. Donated to one of Colorado's greater nutballs, Doug Lamborn.Doesn't live in Denver.

No one expects Hancock to be a good mayor. The question is, just how bad will he be.

Image by fraleya. Some rights reserved.

The bankers blew up the world. This made a lot of home equity disappear. That meant people had less money. This meant they stopped buying stuff. That threw folks out of work. This means they are paying less in taxes and that the government is spending more on support programs.

In response, the government spent money to bail the bankers out, spent some money to reduce the pace of job losses, and cut everyone's taxes.

The fact that people were out of work, weren't buying stuff, and needed help increased the government's spending and revenue. The tax cuts reduced the revenue some more. This means the deficit is high.

How high is the deficit? Not as high as it was a couple decades ago. (See Reagan and his aftermath.) The fact that people aren't buying things has also reduced the cost of financing the deficit to very low levels. As deficits go, this one is relatively cheap.

So is the government putting people back to work or giving them money to buy stuff? No.

Although the deficit isn't a huge problem right now, both parties feel compelled to immediately address address it.

Why are they all fixated on the deficit? The Republicans say the deficit is a critical emergency because they are nuts and hate all Democratic presidents. In fact, it is so critical, according to Republicans, that they are willing to blow up the world again. Why are the Democrats are hysterical about the deficit? The answer remains a mystery. None of the possible answers reflect well on the Democrats.

How have they set out to solve the deficit crisis that isn't a crisis? Neither party will raise taxes on the only people with money. The Republicans hate all government, and the Democrats don't appear too crazy about it either, except our bloated military which both parties love. So the Democrats and Republicans agree that cutting government spending immediately is absolutely critical.

Since they won't cut the military budget significantly, among the spending cuts are cuts to social security (which is in generally good shape for a couple decades and which regular folks and the poor depend upon) and cuts to medical services to the old and the poor.

These cuts won't put anyone back to work or give anyone more money to spend. They will increase and spread the suffering of regular folks and the poor.

Moreover, they may actually end up doing little to reduce the deficit because they don't fix any of the problems that we currently have. They won't put anyone back to work and they will reduce the money people have to buy stuff.

Do I have that about right?

Mountain Hardwear Drifter 3.

Mountain Hardwear Skyledge.

We took two Mountain Hardwear tents on our recent bike tour: A Mountain Hardware Drifter and Mountain Hardware Skyledge. They were both wonderful tents. (A huge improvement over our old Sierra Designs Flashlight and even older Eureka Timberline.) Mountain Hardwear makes great tents.

They were both watertight, lightweight, and had two doors. The two doors cannot be beat. The widespread use of netting rather than ripstop means both tents were very close to as cool as can be in the heat. Both have large vestibules when the flies are pitched.

I'm over six feet all and Gerty is not petite. There was plenty of room for us in both of these tents -- they are, supposedly the three-man versions.

Which is better?

The Drifter ($194.95) is a great, simple tent. No tent is easier to set up. It has two matching poles. Sturdy enough. Very light. The opaque side panels are tall enough to provide privacy even in cramped campgrounds on a hot night. Stephen said he thought there was less cross ventilation because of those panels but I have trouble believing there was significantly less. The footprint is a piece of ripstop.

The Skyledge ($424.95) is another great tent. It is made for ultralightweight backpacking. It doesn't seem quite as sturdy as the Drifter -- I'll bet the Drifter lasts longer -- but the weight shaving doesn't compromise useability. The Skyledge has a bit less floor area but an additional short pole across the top (in addition to two cross poles like the Drifter) makes the difference unnoticeable in use. The Skyledge packs a bit smaller. The footprint is olefin -- very light but makes noise when you're unfolding it.

The only thing I would change about either tent is to make the tent poles fold small enough to fit inside a pannier. This is minor and a personal preference: the poles fit easily on top of a rack.

All in all, I would buy the Drifter and save the money. The weight saved by the Skyledge (less than half a pound?) just isn't big enough to make it worth an extra $200.