Post-Modern Bigots

"I KNOW Sarah Palin, and so does my wife. Neither of us ever actually met the governor of Alaska, but we grew up with her - in the small-town America despised by the leftwing elite."

So begins a superb editorial by author, Ralph Peters. Here are some other choice quotes:

• The sneering elites and their mediacrat fellow travelers just don't get it: How on earth could anyone vote for someone who didn't attend an Ivy League school?
  
  
• The opinion-maker elites see Sarah Palin clearly every time they look up from another sneering article in The New Yorker: She's a country-bumpkin chumpette from a hick state with low latte availability. She's not one of them and never will be. That's the real disqualifier in this race.
  

• Now let me tell you what those postmodern bigots with their multiple vacation homes and their disappointing trust-fund kids don't see: Sarah Palin's one of us. She actually represents the American people.

The Elitist Environmentalists of Vancouver

There's a small but vocal group of environmentalists in Vancouver who think they speak for everyone but truly only represent a tiny elitist minority of the population. Such groups include this one and this one. Their latest raison d'etre is a ridiculous campaign to stop the twinning of the 43 year old Port Mann Bridge.

Their biggest talking point is "we don't want to have an L.A.'fication of Metro Vancouver". This makes for a great bumper sticker, but let's analyze it a little more thoroughly. What they're essentially saying is that the transportation infrastructure decisions made 40+ years ago should last us for eternity. They loathe and frequently condemn anyone who lives in Surrey or further east in the Fraser Valley and has to commute into Vancouver to work.

How dare they! Unlike these self-centered snobs, not everyone can afford to live close to Vancouver and bicycle in to work. These critics are NIMBYs of the very worst kind and absolutely disgust me.

Here are a couple of facts you should know about me: I live in the heart of Vancouver. I willingly gave up my car almost 5 years ago and walk, bicycle, and take transit to get around. I have absolutely no bias on this matter except for the God given right to use my common sense!

A great new blog focused on such transportation issues can be found here.