At last! Gary and Suzanne are prepared to open Liberty Tattoo & Art Parlor. The long awaited shop is sure to be a hit and right around the corner from the new 4th Street Bike Couriers Bike Shop. Good neighbors indeed. We’re taking over UofL, watch out!

Liberty Tattoo & Art Parlor
2801 South 3rd Street
Louisville, KY 40208
502-637-4777

OPENS FRIDAY MAY 1ST (OAKS DAY)
HOURS OF OPERATION
WED-SUN 11AM-7PM

OPENING PARTY SATURDAY MAY 16TH
7PM-10PM

Gary Bell, Suzanne Edds and the entire crew hope to see you there!

Rolling Thunder is not only available, but enjoyable as well. I should know… I’ve been enjoying it. I’ll have a few on hand at SxSE this Saturday or you can head over to CrimethInc.com and get a copy. Give it a read.

Sorta.

Yes, this site has been neglected.

However, with tax season winding down some things have been swirling through my head especially in light of my current IRS “investigation” getting underway. As many know, I don’t pay taxes. At least all those that I can keep from paying. Due to this, the IRS has been making their presence known at my ex-wifes house… the address I used at my last employer a couple years ago. This even after I have left messages for the IRS rep on my case giving my current mailing address as 3175 South 2nd Street #387, Louisville, KY 40208 - is that so hard?

At any rate, neglect. I’m looking to get another issue together for print in the near future. If you’ve got any stories, essays or incoherent ramblings I want them. Email what ever you’ve got to jimmy@lattitudezine.com or drop something in the mail to: 3175 South 2nd Street #387, Louisville, KY 40208

In the mean time there’s a bike ride tomorrow, Saturday, April 11. The Fuck Gas “Posse on Broadway” - come have a beer, ride your bike and have some fun.

Looking at the above photo I live to the right, just outside the picture. I work and “play” as they say to the left, a bit farther outside the picture. In the bottom right is one of the most dangerous expressway to surface road interchanges in the city as the looping exit ramps keep automobile traffic on the high end and it is a bit unpleasant to ride through to say the least. That pretty red, yellow and orange loop doesn’t do a lot to help myself and many others ride their bikes to work. However, it’s damn fine for the weekend warriors. Great work Louisville. You’re really setting a benchmark in recreational pedestrian and bicycling facilities. $14.7 million worth.
Here’s the highlights:

• Building walking trail at A.B Sawyer Park, $616,000. The path would start at Whipps Mills Road in Lyndon and meander to near Hurstbourne Parkway. The path would be known as the A.B. Sawyer Greenway.
• Seneca Loop extension $988,350. This project, creating 40 jobs, will provide a 3.9 mile trail loop for pedestrians and bicycles in Seneca Park and around Bowman Field.
• Louisville Loop, $687,500. This project will repair a slope failure on the existing trail adjacent to Shawnee Golf Course and create as many as 35 jobs.
• Neighborhoods sidewalk construction and repair, $7.4 million. Abramson and his “Louisville At Work” team, in consultation with the Metro Council, will determine where to build and repair sidewalks. The projects could create up to 620 jobs.
• Resurfacing 70 miles of streets, $5,500,000. The “Louisville At Work” team will help determine which roads get priority paving. This could create as many as 600 jobs.
• Installation of bicycle lanes along Taylorsville Road from McMahan to Hurstbourne, $88,000 and creating 8 jobs

Can we please get the mayor’s chubby ass along with these other bureaucratic sheep out on bikes in real traffic for a couple days and then have them consider where $14.7 million might help?

There are people being killed out there - fuck recreation.

I know, I know. I’ve been neglecting the political side of things as of late. I’ve been concentrating most of my efforts towards the bike things over at FuckGas.org… that ones updated daily. However, we (that’s plural for me) will have a booth/table/spot at the SXSE (South by South End) festival happening April 24 & 25. I’ll have a handful of zines, stickers for the taking as well as some shirts for the buying. Come and get it.
Finally, it’s tax season. That means millions of people take time out of their day to prepare paperwork for state and country documenting what their labor was worth the previous year. Stop being a slave and keep what’s yours. If you don’t like the idea of a government sending hundreds of thousands of troops all over the world to tell people how to live their lives then stop assisting in flipping the bill. The same goes for local government.

Kentucky House Bill 88 would make it easier to prosecute reckless drivers who hit pedestrians and bicyclists. By making it clear that Kentucky will not tolerate reckless driving, HB 88 will make our roads safer for everyone and will encourage walking and bicycling.

How to Help

To pass House Bill 88, we need Rep. John Tilley, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, to take action on the bill at the Judiciary Committee next meeting. We’re utilizing three tactics to achieve this:

Click here to find out more.

Off to Louisville Bike Summit 2… updates to follow.

Update:

Made it through the better part of Bike Summit today. Would have updated this sooner but there was a lack of electrical outlets and internet access so here I sit. While I may delve deeper into this later, right now I’ll just go over some general impressions I walked away with.

First off, it’s good to see this dialogue happening in the city. There were likely 200 or so people in attendance and even a fair number that got there by bike. With that in mind, I would like to not the lack of proper bike racks at the facility. Bike Summit in a building with no bike rack - dialed.

Second, the city seems to be more concerned with making a name for itself in the recreation venue than attempting to keep riders out on the roads alive. With goals aimed at adding nearly 300 more miles of “bike routes” and a morning dedicated to the 100 mile “Louisville Loop” these goals don’t do too much for getting people to the grocery, school and work safely by bike. With this sort of aim Louisville seems destined to keep bicyclists and pedestrians at bay. Yes there is now a complete streets program implemented in all new road construction, but that does little to serve our existing network of dangerous roads.

Lastly, I have to address what is a level of ignorance that hopefully this sort of forum helps curb and allows Louisville and other cities to progress. This became especially clear while during the engineering break out session one of the workers noted how he had never even contemplated the issue of having to make a left turn while using bike lanes that are located on the far right of roadways… WTF? Like I said, hopefully this communication between riders and the people behind planning roads and what not will just make for a more bicycle and pedestrian friendly system in the end.

That really is the bottom line here. Creating a better system. Obviously the one the country has been going by is totally fucked and it seems government at every level is realizing this. As much as Louisville Bike Summit seems like an opportunity for city bureaucrats to pat themselves on the back for their efforts it does provide an opportunity and I am happy I took part in it.

Marie Mason, a mother of two and environmental activist was sentenced to 21 years in prison for a 1999 Earth Liberation Front arson. The fire caused roughly $1 million in damage to genetic-engineering research at Michigan State University and didn’t harm a single person.

The FBI went after Mason under “domestic terrorism” charges and the MSU president even went so far as to say the terrorists, the E.L.F., were even attacking freedom itself. What the FBI seems to have been going after more than anything was more names. Mason was offered a 15-20 year sentence if she would agree to turn over names of other E.L.F. members versus life in prison to which the government prosecutors said they would seek.

All this on the heels of news that her former husband, Frank Ambrose, had worn a wire to entrap his friends and spy on lawful environmental gatherings. For this, including turning on his former wife Mason, Ambrose would have his sentence reduced to nine years in prison.

Regardless, Mason refused to cooperate and the government offered her a deal where she would have to name Frank Ambrose, her ex-husband who had already named himself and turned FBI informant and take a 21 year sentence. Due to cooperation of Frank Ambrose there was little hope for Mason to win under a jury trial.

In the end, as are most cases such as this, the government appears to be trying to scare the piss out of anyone else out there considering direct action or activism in general. Unfortunately, it appears these are effective tactics for the most part. People are scared to go to prison and rightfully so. However, if nobody is willing to put their asses on the line, how will anything ever get accomplished.

It’s official - I’m raising money to take part in The Ride to Conquer Cancer to which I’ll be riding fixed. Having dealt with all the chemo, radiation, surgeries and extended hospital stays myself, I’d like to think the money I can raise for this will eventually allow someone not to have to deal with this shit. It sucks, no two ways about it. If you’re curious about the ride or would like to take part as well go to RideToVictory.org and sign up. The ride is a 2 day event covering 150 miles and includes all sorts of provisions. There are already people signed up from around the country so it should be a great ride all while contributing to kicking cancer’s ass.

If everyone that reads this and the Fuck Gas blogs just donated $1 (more would be good too) I’d be set on my $2,500 goal and if your a tax doer, your donation is deductible.

Please donate here.