excuse me while I have a temper tantrum.

The following political rant is brought to you by the no-doubt actually innocuous article about an attempt at record-breaking cyclists in Dublin. It is not, despite the launch topic, really a diatribe about Ireland.

Kit gets a soapbox.
Kit puts it down.
Kit climbs up on top of it.
Kit yells, “Okay, so the Irish government wants to see “10% of all commuters being made by bicycle in the next 12 years.”
Kit says, “what a fucking weenie goal.”
Kit says, “have some balls.”
Kit says, “close down the city centre to personal traffic. let buses, taxis and cyclists come through, that’s it.”
Kit says, “improve the *fucking* infrastructure country-wide. it is never ever EVER too cold here to cycle. there should be bike paths EVERYWHERE.”
Kit says, “sell it as a tourist attraction: see ireland by bicycle”
Kit says, “sell the clean fresh irish air”
Kit says, “grow a set of *balls*, for christ’s sake. set a goal that would make an actual difference and then fucking well *support* it.”
Kit says, “hey, i know, let’s cut down on emissions by 15% by 2030! because THAT’S going to make any kind of fucking difference. try DRASTIC MEASURES. create tax relief at massive levels for people who get rid of their cars. put freecycle systems in place like they’ve got in the netherlands.”
Kit says, “fuck the little shit. do something *meaningful*, you lazy change-fearing bastard sons of bitches.”
Kit gets off her soapbox.
Kit kicks it over.
Kit stomps off.

(Trent, online where I suddenly burst out with this, had the kindness, or sense of self-preservation, to applaud, which prompted the following.)

Kit is SO TIRED of the *bullshit* Kyoto-level “oh this will make a difference” actions.
Kit says, “10%, 20% over 20 years? big FUCKING deal”
Kit says, “the united fucking states of america is capable of going from a peacetime situation to full war-machine *and back again* in less than five years.”
Kit says, “if anybody, ANYBODY, in the whole *fucking* world actually *wanted* to make a difference, they fucking well *could*.”
Kit says, “nobody wants to.”
Kit says, “they make a goddamned mockery of the things that would make a difference, things that could be changed nearly overnight. look at the fucking *auto* industry. O noes, we can’t let GM go bankrupt! o noez! but gosh, we’re not going to MAKE them turn over into a green machine because for eighteen months people might be OUT OF WORK”
Kit says, “NEWS FLASH, THEY’RE OUT OF WORK ANYWAY”
Kit says, “how about RETRAINING THEM”
Kit says, “how about this: in the european island nation of malta they evidently have no unemployment benefits, per se, nor have they got local gov’t road repair sorts of things. instead, if you’re unemployed, you go out and work on the roads and get paid for that.”
Kit says, “how about doing that EVERYWHERE”

(this was followed by:)

Deborah blinks after Kit.
Deborah says “I had no idea you felt that strongly about global warming.”

Kit does, actually.
Deborah gathers. :) Why?

Deborah says “I’m just curious what makes you feel that *strongly*, rather than the usual vague agrement that it’s a good idea to prevent.”

Kit says “Because I’m from Alaska, where the effects of global warming are extremely dramatic and visible. Because I *know* people who are being forced to move upriver, whose villages are being or will have to be relocated. Because Shishmaref is drowning. Because I am *sick* of the bullshit, half-ass, *meaningless* measures taken by so-called high-minded principles like the Kyoto Protocol, whose goals are so fucking *pathetic* they might as well take astronomic-sized hairdryers down to Antarctica and turn them on the ice fields.”

Deborah says “You should take that soap box and go more public with it.”

Kit says “any kind of meaningful “more public” beyond posting on my blog would become a full-time job.”
Kit says “which some days i think would be a better use of my time than anything else i could do.”

(at this point, everyone idled to go to meetings, which is really probably for the best, as I’m hopped up enough that my hands are cold and shaking.)