Stranded in Toledo

There’s been a lot of talk about the death of the exurb, brought about by increasing fuel prices and transportation costs (combined with a slowing economy). What you hear less about (well, what I hear less about) is the new isloation being faced by semi-isolated medium sized towns. These places are too far away from large cities to effectively benefit from their infrastructure, but are also too close (and too small) to support effective infrastructure of their own. Toledo is a good example of this, being 2 hours from Detroit and Cleveland, and it’s about to get hit pretty hard by the cuts in flying amongst the major airlines.

Expensive oil is a double-whammy for places like Toledo. Their air links will continue to be severed as airlines are forced to cut back. Meanwhile, driving 90-120 minutes to DTW or CLE becomes a lot harder when gas prices are over 4 dollars a gallon. We have started talking a lot about investing in transit infrastructure in our metropolitan areas, and we should. But we should also remember that after decades of neglect in favour of cars and planes, our intercity rail infrastructure is a joke, and places like Toledo and Bakersfield and Harrisburg — places that are close to being in the middle of nowhere, but not quite — are probably about to be cut off as a result. Something to keep in mind as we (hopefully) have more success in getting politicians to address the problems of cities.

Originalism indeed

I’ve always thought that the terms “originalist” and “strict constructionist” are — pardon me — bullshit. It’s all just a game of interpretation, and it’s just a cover for conservative justices to come to the conclusions they like. I say they should just have the balls to admit that they take their retrograde moralist conservative worldview and apply it to their judgments. Liberal justices clearly do it all the time, but at least they’re honest about it.

Anyway, I was just thinking about this now because of this ridiculous 2nd amendment ruling yesterday. Someone needs to explain to me how a “strict constructionist” or an “originalist” or whatever the would-be sex police who currently run our court are calling themselves these days can read an individual right to own a handgun into the second amendment. Unless we’re at the NRA museum, where they replace the amendment’s preface with an ellipsis, I just don’t see it. I’m left to conclude that Scalia sees the document as living and breathing too.

One hopes that the media sees this as well, and will start calling Republicans on their “activist judges” nonsense. This is one of the most baldly “activist” rulings to come down in ages. Who will be the first to ask John McCain what he thinks of “activist judges” who read their own views into the Constitution? I’m not holding my breath.

In other news, sorry for the lack of posting. I’m traveling and have also gotten quite busy. Must try harder. In related news, a Trinidad and Tobago passport is a massive pain in the ass if you want to go anywhere.

links for 2008-06-13

• Konami Code works in Google Reader – Joystiq
  (via Maxim)

links for 2008-06-06

• Santa Ana is trying to introduce 1st class jails for a price
  This is the most disgusting thing I’ve read in a while. It’s horrifying to me that we jail massive numbers of people, and then we try to mitigate the costs by allowing the rich to have it easier than the poor. So very very gross.

links for 2008-06-04

• Why Young Savers Should Borrow Money to Invest in Stocks
  “Diversification over time” will be the Next Hot Thing! But really, should I take out a loan and dump it into ETFs? Hmm.
  (tags: finance stocks economics)

Listen to the horn go beep beep beep as we travel near and far

I’ve been here all of a month, but I’m as comfortable as ever. And I have observations!

The biggest change in my life — aside from increased burrito consumption — has been the acquisition of a car. You see, J and I were lucky enough to find an apartment that included a parking space. Since apartments are hotly contested here, we had to agree to rent the space along with the place. Once that sunk cost had been accepted, it was really a hop skip and jump (to the San Bruno Honda!) to tripling it with car payments, insurance, and the like.

Understand that this tore me up inside, and that I continue to feel liberal guilt about it everyday. As you’ll note from my links, I am an avid reader of Streetsblog, mouthpiece of the car-trodden cyclist, fighter of motorheads everywhere, and dogged promoter of congestion pricing. But hey, I don’t use it to commute, so that makes it a little better, right? And besides, it’s a hybrid! I hear they clean the air as you drive.

It’s weird, though. Here I am in San Francisco, surrounded by organic toothpaste and vegan chorizo and composting and more locally grown organic food than you can shake a cup of fair trade mocha at, and yet it would appear that driving is acceptable. Buy a hybrid in New York (a city that refuses to put out any recycling cans), and people look at you with a mixture of pity and disdain (and groan audibly). Buy a hybrid out here, and people cheer – no, really, they literally say “YAY!” and congratulate you — for becoming part of America’s addiction to the automobile. I don’t understand it.

Despite this, I feel guilty. Guess I’ll soothe myself with a donation to Transportation Alternatives. Ah, that hit the spot.