Thanks for the mention… but should I feel bad about my user ID being the same as your blog? I am new enough to this thing that I could change it to something equally original (baikujin? baikuotaku?) without throwing my nonexistent readership into turmoil.

If you haven’t checked out ridingsun lately, note that I added Gaijin Biker to my links list, so all my nonexistent readers are aware of your site. (I guess I will add your Gaijin Bikers in Japan instead since that seems to be your more active site.)

Anyway, I’ve got some more posts up now, resulting in a competely inconsistent mix of bike talk and inflammatory political screeds that you would probably disagree with. But, remarkably enough, there is STILL TIME for some lucky person to claim the honor of being ridingsun’s first commenter!

In closing, here is a grammar joke I think you would like:

A visiting student comes to Harvard to find a book in its vast library. Not knowing his way around the campus, he asks the nearest student, “Excuse me, where’s the library at?”

The Harvard student, with utter disdain, sniffs, “At Harvard, my good man, we never end our sentences with a preposition.”

The visiting student thinks about this a bit, and then asks, “Okay, so where’s the library at, asshole?”

Cheers and happy new year,
GaijinBiker

Anyway, thanks for bringing apostropher and unfogged to my attention… I lean conservative but those guys present a relatively well-thought-out lefty point of view compared to some of the vitriol you find out there. Interesting stuff.

–GB

About “Gaijin Biker”, it’s not like I’ve got a trademark on that particular compound noun–I kinda feel guilty about taking the name seeing as how I’m not actively blogging and you are.
I had noticed the link. Thanks.

I’m happy if I’ve pointed you to some intelligent lefty stuff. The only major objection I have to your Saddam post is the implication that the left hasn’t been condemning the insurgents, when quite a few people on the left do so all the time. The reason the criticism of Bush and the coalition is louder and more frequent is simply that they’re answerable to us whereas the bad guys aren’t. It’s kind of a dog-bites-man thing–everybody expects islamist wackos to do evil things–we just expect a little more from the good guys.

Come to think of it, this probably should be a comment on your site rather than here, huh?

The reason the criticism of Bush and the coalition is louder and more frequent is simply that they’re answerable to us whereas the bad guys aren’t.This is indeed a very big reason why there is more criticism of Bush than of the insurgents. However, that doesn’t mean it’s appropriate or helpful. In other words, it’s another version of the old “searching under the streetlamp” phenomenon:

A policeman sees a drunk down on his hands and knees looking for something under a streetlamp. The cop asks him what he’s looking for.

“I lost my keys,” says the drunk.

“Where did you drop them?” asks the cop.

“In that alley over there,” says the drunk, pointing at a nearby alley.

“So then why are you looking for them over here?” asks the cop.

“Because the light’s better,” answers the drunk.

If the criticism were merely partisan sniping, you could argue that it’s not “appropriate or helpful”, but meaningful dissent and legitimate criticism of administration policy is not just appropriate and helpful, but necessary to the health of the nation.

Of course, there’s always room for disagreement on what is meaningful or legitimate.