Heck of a fun day today. And, relevant to the photo. It's old, but, you know? hang onto something long enough and it'll eventually become relevant. As you can see, it's a stop sign. You know, the things that are supposed to tell people to stop? When you're riding a bicycle, if you've got any sort of survival instinct at all, you do. People sitting comfortably inside 2,000 pounds of metal, however, well, to them it seems to be optional. At least, it was to the driver who hit me this morning on my way to work. Boy, that's some fun, I'll tell you. Especially that half second when I realized that, golly, the front end of that SUV seems to be half an inch away, moving faster than I'd really like it to be. My next memory is of being on the ground and being really, really - and I can't state this too strongly - REALLY angry. And, later - much later - glad not to own a large handgun. 'Cause I'd have turned the guy and his SUV into Swiss cheese otherwise. As it was, I just spent a good few minutes getting seriously Nixon-oid on him (there's a generational joke if there ever was one).

There are no penalties to drivers for running down cyclists, unless you count a scratch on the front bumper's paint a penalty. For the cyclist, however, well - paraplegia, anyone? Quadriplegia? Death? I got lucky. Scrapes. Bruises. Probably some soreness, stiffness tomorrow. And my bike out of action till repairs get made.

The thing is, it brings up the question: Why bother to obey traffic laws? I was hit at a 4-way stop. I stopped, looked, assumed that the driver approaching the intersection from my right would do the same when he got there, and rode on. Big mistake. I should have just run it. After all - he did.

So, drivers? When you're cursing cyclists who seem disinclined to obey traffic laws? It's because we don't want to die at your hands. Because you either don't see us (and I was wearing a bright yellow jacket, riding a bright yellow-and-red bike, and wearing a red and white helmet - how can you not see me?), or regard us as amusing targets.

In some large cities, cyclists have apparently taken to carrying hammers attached to the crossbar of their bikes. Not an all bad idea, really. Wouldn't be able to do damage anything like an SUV body-blow, but...

Well, enough whining. "Americans"! Let us good folks of British Columbia take over. You'll feel muuuuuch better. Really.

I laughed. I cried. And, frankly, I quaked in fear. Yep. Four years ago I was convinced - CONVINCED - that there was no way in hell Americans would re-elect the world's dumbest national leader. Wait, make that history's dumbest national leader. I was wrong. And now? Everywhere I look, people are making excuses for (when they're not actually praising!) McBush's choice of a gun-totin', oil-suckin', god-fearin' bimbo from a state with a population of - what? 12? - as his running mate. A woman who was stupid enough to purposely sentence an unborn fetus to a lifetime of misery, to praise her obviously brain-damaged daughter for keeping her baby even though said daughter is only 17 years old (has she even actually graduated from high school?), was a member of a political party that wanted Alaska to secede from the Union...! A woman who thinks that "running" a town with a population smaller than that of the student population at the community college where I teach qualifies her for the Vice Presidency! And poor old Levi! There'd better be a big payoff waiting for that poor sucker. "Oh, fer sure - I'm gonna marry her. Fer sure!" At 18?!? Kiss your life good-bye, pal.

Look, I'm a cynic. I think I was probably born this way. But, please, even cynics can only take so much. Please, for the love of the god in whom I do not believe, please, please, please do not elect this Dimwitted Duo! I'm begging you! Please!

Let's see. Take some fish, put them in a barrel - what have you got? The McBush campaign!

Years ago, there was a satirical program on BBC called "Spitting Image". The folks who made it finally gave up. Why? Because there was no way they could come up with situations ridiculous enough to match those that the royal family were actually living through. Well, evidently John McBush has decided that the best way to send humourists the world over into retirement is to follow that model.

Let's see. First, there's this quote: "He had his first face-to-face interview with her on Thursday and offered her the job moments later." That's from a story in the New York Times. This one's from the ever-popular "Republican close to the campaign": "“They didn’t seriously consider her until four or five days from the time she was picked, before she was asked, maybe the Thursday or Friday before,” said a Republican close to the campaign. “This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.”" Wow! He's sure the guy I'd vote for! Careful planning! Forethought! Wisdom!

Let's face it, can't you hear John screaming, "Bring me a woman, goddamn it!"? Although, not for the purposes you might think, obviously.

As for the Republican party in general (and their favourite pit-bull, Rockin' Rush), how come none of them is screaming about the daughter? Surely, under their strict moral code, she's a slut? A whore? A spawn of Satan? I mean, isn't that what Rumpled Rush would have been howling over the airways had Bristol (as in "board"?) been "Chelsea"?

How dim is this family, anyway? How does a 17-year-old not understand birth control here in the early 21st century? The pill? Condoms? Or, that favourite Republican method....ABSTINENCE?!? Come on - where's that good old Republican outrage? That good old Republican moral fibre?

Gees - talk about "No Child Left Behind"!

And, let's face it, you've got to love that the Republican presidential nominee's choice of a running mate was a member of an Alaskan secessionist party up until a few years ago: "...that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede..." Fantastic! A dimwit and (come on, Rush, I know you'd be busting at the seams to say this had she been Obama's running mate) a traitor!

Is anyone really seriously considering voting for these people? I mean, reeeeeeaaaaalllllly?

Here in Canada it seems we're still facing the question - what, oh lord, did we do to deserve a moron like this as our Minister of Health? And why, oh why, is it only the good that die young? Couldn't the criminally stupid get culled sooner, too?

Well, it's "I'm Embarrassed to Be Canadian" day, here at Shaggy Dog Pix. Yep, this moron is actually our minister for health. I'm sorry, it's not my fault. Trust me. I did not vote for these boneheads. We currently have a party in power that's second in stupidity, venality, and general all-around hypocrisy to the Republicans. Smirkin' Stevie Harper would give his Right arm to be Dumbya. "Dr." Tony Clement would give his right arm just to have a brain. Too bad the Wizard went out of business a long time ago.

Well, a good news/bad news/business-as-usual news kind of day. I'd ask which you'd like first, but...

We'll start with some of the business-as-usual news. At least, it's business as usual for the criminal conspiracy currently referred to as the "Bush administration". In every civilized country in the world, efforts are made to ensure that the judiciary is as apolitical as possible (an exception, recently, being my own - see yesterday's post). Not so in the Kingdom of the Shrub. Evidently, rational people need not apply.

And now, in the spirit of Faux News (fair and balanced, as long as you're a right-wing conservative god-fearing nitwit), some good news. At least, I hope it's good news. Given that it's coming out of Florida and is in relation to conservation, I'm a little leery. This is a state that declares an area a "nature preserve", then converts it to housing subdivisions, so, the notion that they seem to be doing something that's good for "nature"...well, it's just hard to accept at face value. But, what the heck, I'll just go all Pollyanna and believe they're actually doing right for a change. Go, Charlie!

Last, but not least, and not good, this little story from the McCain campaign. Yep, these are the kind of people I'd want running my country. "Yeah, we'd spike the numbers big-time if only some lunatic would blow up a couple thousand American citizens. Johnny'd be a shoo-in!" Gotta love Republicans. They're nothing if not consistent. Too bad their consistency is largely in the area of stupidity.

One more thing - I've added a new link over there in the sidebar. It's to "The Landscapist" (a.k.a. Mark Hobson). Some of his stuff is a tad cute - "picturing" instead of "photographing", for example - but he's a thoughtful guy and a damn good photographer, so his site is worth visiting. I especially love his entry for June 23rd. Couldn't have said it better myself. Nor with any less zeal.

Lordy, I hope the saying, "Only the good die young" isn't true. The signs, I have to admit, aren't looking good. How old is Henry Kissinger? How old was Augusto Pinochet when he died? Dick Cheney seems to be hanging in pretty nicely. Nevertheless, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Tony Clement - our very own Health Mangler - will be the exception. Yep, science isn't good enough for him; the law isn't good enough for him - nope. Only God's will that these hideous addicts burn in hell is good enough for a staunch representative of the Refor...er....Canadian Allian.....er, um.......Cons.....no, um, er, um.......Christian Cretin Party.

On the other hand, his continued existence, and that of his compatriots in cretinism, is at least proof of the non-existence of god. Any god worth his/her/its salt would have "called" these pinheads "home" a long, long time ago.

Being someone who teaches various courses in biology for a living, you can imagine how this little piece of news makes me feel. Wow, is there ever a lot of work to do. Not to mention hard drinking.

Well, as if anyone in the U.S. needed another reason to not vote Republican in the fall, there's this story about John McStupid sucking up to Murder Incorporated. Just once I'd like to hear someone come up with a justifiable reason for this group of idiots. How is it that they run so much of American politics? This is a mystery to those of us who live elsewhere.