Woke up early today to do some maintenance on the mount. A tube needed to be replaced (actually the whole tire needs to be replaced but the cavalry is currently underfunded and thus under-equipped; a show of solidarity with our nation's military forces) and while replacing it I found several spokes that needed tightening. I will be cleaning, lubricating, and tightening those components I feel comfortable mucking about with and apologizing profusely to those neglected parts whose complexity is beyond my comfort level and thus are not duly maintained and are hence more prone to failure and thus are a source of great anxiety.
I am listening to my local progressive talk radio outlet (which I will not advertise for here as they are a owned subsidiary of a major media owner/distributor corporation, who is quite capable of advertising for itself thank you very much) while I work on my bike. I hear about the St. Paul-Minneapolis Mississippi River bridge collapsing. I hear about divers not being able to get to bodies in 8ft of water. I hear that its not terrorists. I heard about massive waste leak at the Hanford (sp?) Nuclear Ranch. Its barely trickling into the news outside the region. No mention of terrorists or radical environmentalists. I remember hearing about a massive fire at an industrial gases warehouse in Dallas Texas. Fire so hot they couldn't do anything but watch it burn and try to keep the asphalt and concrete from catching fire. Local sources indicate it was not being treated as an arson last I heard.
All this time our Government is planning war games to prepare for "National Emergency Response" and we are having our disaster threshold slowly lowered. Oregon Democratic Congressional Representative Peter DeFazio, a member of the Homeland Security Committee in the House of Representatives, has been very interested in the plans for Operation Noble Resolve (yes Noble not Honorable or any other synonym there of; but Noble which is also a noun which is a synonym for Aristocrat) but has not been able to view these plans even under the high security circumstances created for members of certain Congressional committees to view sensitive materials in order to better serve the interests of the American people. The supposedly co-equal legislative branch cannot view the plans for military activity within our state made by the executive branch. Why would the government want to hide what its planning to do in my backyard from one of my congressional delegates? Its not a question I really like to have to ask. As I clean and lubricate my bike I keep thinking 'you could have been a Kalashnikov' A rifle however cannot take me to work to my daughter's school. A rifle would not keep my heart and legs strong and my lungs deep. A rifle has one purpose effective localized depopulation. I need my bike, I want a rifle.
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Thanks to George W. Bush and the Congressional Republicans that let the assault weapons ban expire. Though I may not be one of them its good to know that other Freedom Loving Americans have high capacity long range battle rifles.