A Lack of Gratitude

Matthew Yglesias notes that National Review Online blogger Andrew McCarthy claims the Iraqi people are "ingrates" because they are not happy about the presence of American troops. Written in the context of an article about the recent Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), he claims the Iraqis are too friendly to Tehran and too interested in prosecuting American soldiers.

Gee, maybe we should have fought about that before we invaded their country.

Bikes in the City

Matthew Yglesias has an interesting post about the need for city planners to develop more bicycle-friendly designs to deal with our current fuel and environmental crisis. He argues that more people need to ride bicycles so that motorists and city governments will become more aware of them.

This is only partly true in my opinion. I think biking is a great idea, but I am concerned about the recklessness of certain drivers in dealing with bicyclists. We need more help from city governments before we will see a mass movement towards bikes.

Still, it is great to see someone pointing out America's need to become more bike friendly. We are way behind Europe in this regard.