Letters to the Editor
ELYDOG
Published Letters: 498 Editor's Choice: 43
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Minneapolis
[Read the article: The bicycle thief]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here in Minneapolis, we have the top bicycle commuting city in the U.S., according to the latest figures. The City of Minneapolis, long dominated by Democrats (and a few Greens) has put lot's of money into bicycle infrastructure. We have bike lanes downtown, and spiking out from there. You can drive all around the city on dedicated bike paths, some with special bridges over busy streets. One bike path through the center of town, the Greenway, gets more traffice than 98% of city streets.
Then we get downtown and the Republican-dominated businesses, run by people from the suburbs, consider biking to be an exercise for the weekends, and not transportation. And they must not wonder what all these bicycles are wrapped around 100s of posts and trees, etc. every workday downtown are doing there. So they have no plan to accomodate bicyclists, like secure parking, lockers in the bathroom, maybe even showers.
Sound like Ms. Peters? Yes. Who else sounds like Ms. Peters? Our MNDOT is run by a Republican political appointee, Ms. Molnau. From all the documentation pulled out by the local paper, her Department of Transport oversaw a bridge program trying to save every penny by not fixing bridges too quickly, especially the 35W one over the Mississippi. 13 died for doing things that way.
Put three and three together? The Republicans hate bicycling and love cars, but not enough to fund either sufficiently.
As to Mr. Pill, another Republican, you are nothing but a dinosaur running on dinosaurs. May you be pushing your beloved car one day. Take a trip to Europe and see your future. Trains and scooters and ... bicyclists. Grow up.
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Biking is OK, but it's Not
[Read the article: The bicycle thief]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Tinmaniac and Slosh,
Running down a pedestrian is not cool! I always stop or go behind pedestrians, because I remember they are even more defenseless than bikers. I walk too. However, to go from there to say, well, act like a car at all times, you are a 'car'. Not true. Cars and bicycles are not the same.
It seems to me a bike is closer to a pedestrian or a skateboarder than a car. Many bicylists 'jay' ride and if you do it properly, it is benign. I can carry my bike up an elevator, ride on sidewalks, ride the wrong way down a street (sometimes this is recommended for safety reasons) and cross at a red when no one is there. I can bring my bike on the train and even hook it to the front of a bus. If you promise never to jay walk, I'll never 'jay' ride! I don't think you can. It is one of the privileges of being non-motorized.
Slosh, the country has been designed for cars. Bicycles will not be adequate given the suburban sprawl encouraged by Republican and Democratic legistlators for years. However, a biker can drive into the city, park in a quiet free neighborhood, and ride the last 5 miles. Or do the same if you work and live only in the suburbs. You can ride to a train instead of driving, etc.
The sprawling suburbs are becoming even less attractive to live in as gasoline continues to rise in price and fall in supply. This is really going to happen no matter what we think - the far out suburbs are going to become less attractive. It is all a matter of the end of the cheap gas fiesta, social habit and infrastructure.
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All White Men are not Created Equal
[Read the article: So long, white boy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read the article, and indeed, Shaller notes that white male union members vote Democratic, so he's not talking about all males.
Then he goes ahead and talks about all 'white men' again, which he then calls "Bubba", which is a slang for southern non-union white males. So he's only talking about white male southern men? Unfortunately, the article is written to encourage this confusion. And he's a prof!
Edwards does have the best chance of winning white working class southerners. A working class populist could win their votes, and many more besides, and Edwards is the closest to it. Of course Edwards is not working class now, but his roots were in that class, which stands for something. Even some of these guys have had it with Iraq.
This essay is tied to Shaller's prior essay about ignoring the South. That is why the term Bubba / NASCAR dad is used over and over again. Not referring to an Irish Catholic male in Boston's Southie, evidently.
What is disturbing about Shaller is that he does not approve of class-based appeals, otherwise he wouldn't write this stuff. That is what he shares with the Democratic Leadership Counsel, which he does not ostensibly support. They both want to avoid true populism.
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Say white men...
[Read the article: So long, white boy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]and the white power boys show up. Confusion at it's most confusing.
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Origin of the Term Redneck
[Read the article: So long, white boy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As many letter writers have pointed out, the term "Bubba' is an insult, like redneck, trailer trash, etc. So-called liberals should check to see if their anti-working class prejudice is showing.
That said, the term 'red neck' actually has an interesting origin, or at least claimed by one female historian of the South.
The miners during Blair Mountain (in 1921 folks) used to wear red hankerchiefs around their necks. The gun thugs for the mine companies (and the National Guard, Army etc.) started to call any 'out of control' white man a "redneck." Of course there was an actual war in the hills between the two sides, with 1000's of 'redneck' miners armed to the teeth shooting it out with the gun thugs.
So, think twice the next time you use the insult. We need more 'rednecks' like this!
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Reddened necks
[Read the article: So long, white boy]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Vlad,
Your theory was the first one I heard long ago. However, I like the historian's better. Give me a citation if you have one, as you are probably right. There is also the possibility that the meaning of the phrase might have been amplified by the events of 1921 and the use of those 'red' kerchiefs.