Tripping in Totalitarianism

The modus operandi of empires throughout history has been to create crisis, generate fear and promote panic. The current empire is no exception.
911 offered the empire the opportunity to rush through the Patriot Act essentially gutting the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The attack was a criminal act, not an act of war which is military aggression by one government against another. A declaration of war empowered the empire to attack Afghanistan even though most of the alleged perpetrators were from Saudi Arabia.
Weapons of mass destruction were used to justify the war against Iraq. Fear and panic led to the acceptance of torture, extraordinary rendition, secret prisons, Quantanamo Bay, the elimination of habeas corpus and other practices characteristic of closed societies.

I'd like to nominate H. Bruce Miller and his rant against studded tires for this week's WTF. He claims, "They're somewhat better at stopping a vehicle on glare ice". C'mon, we're talking about metal spikes here. As a snowboarder and waterfall ice climber, I've yet to see a rubber edged snowboard or rubber ice axe. Edges and ice picks are made out of metal because it gains purchase on "glare ice" like nothing else. Period.
Admittedly, studs marginally decrease stopping power on dry roads. So do cinders. Should ODOT stop putting those down as well? Like cinders, studs increase stopping power when roads are at their worst.

WOW! Didn't really expect such an outpouring of emotional gratitude from The Source community. I guess I must have struck a nerve of some sort, so I guess thanks for the print? I'm a bit humbled by being called out for the PPP, but my mother will not let me in the sandbox after school with some stranger, and besides that, MS.

This week's letter of the week comes from Earl Williams who argues that transit opponents are taking a shortsighted view of the system. We don't expect this to be the last word on transit, but it's a good starting point for future discussions. Thanks for the letter, Earl. You can pick up your winners prize at our offices 704 NW Georgia.
This is a response to the 12/11/08 "Opinion" letter by Tom Filcich titled "Transit Reporting is Biased." Mr. Filcich states that Jodie Barram said, "transit was a mistake and someone dropped the ball."
It's easy to corrupt the essence of what a person says by extracting only a small part of what was said. Jodie Barram is an enthusiastic supporter of Bend public transit; she recognizes that it is an economic stimulus IN Bend FOR Bend. (Why I voted for her.)Please note that "was" is a past-tense word. All the start-up problems of Bend public transit have been long resolved, very satisfactorily.
Professional firefighters occasionally are the cause (rather than preventers) of forest fires. A good example is the recent fire near Camp Sherman that burned about 1800 acres. It WAS a "controlled burn" that went awry. Nevertheless, it would be unwise to not continue the services of professional forest firefighters. Likewise, it would be unwise to discontinue Bend public transit because of early problems long ago resolved. (Edison had more failures than successes.)

As a private, concerned citizen, I am again compelled to respond to another childish editorial rant from The Bulletin. Case in point, the derogatory editorial this weekend about the Bend Parks and Recreation District's new office building.