Bicycles As a Gateway To Government Control 634
somaTh writes "Dan Maes, a candidate for governor of Colorado, thinks he's found an international conspiracy that starts with bike sharing. The article describes his current complaints with the incumbent's policies. 'The bike program in it of itself, if that's all it is, I wouldn't be opposed to it,' Maes told 9NEWS. 'What I am opposed to is if it's part of a bigger program that the mayor has signed on to as part of a UN program. That I would be opposed to.' He goes on to argue that the bicycle program is only a gateway into bigger policies including, but not limited to, forced abortions and population control. I understand that bike seats are uncomfortable, but I had no idea it was on purpose."
Lower Sperm Counts! (Score:2, Informative)
They've been shown to reduce sperm counts..... At least the traditional hard 10 speed bike seats.
Correction to summary (Score:5, Informative)
One correction - The incumbent in this election for governor is Bill Ritter who is not running for re-election. Maes Democratic opponent is John Hickenlooper who is currently the mayor of Denver
Re:What a fucking retard. (Score:3, Informative)
The douchebags are already in place. You weren't supposed to know about the barking pumpkins yet.
Re:What a fucking retard. (Score:5, Informative)
Nope, his handlers have reigned him in and told him he sounded like a wingnut conspiracy theorist. Just a few days after his comments he had this to say when asked by the news station: "I haven't even had the time to visit the terms of the agreement that Mayor Hickenlooper has signed off on. I am gonna beg a little patience from the media, so I can study the details of this program and then make a much more informed commentary about it."
In other words, "I made a ridiculous accusation without even so much as reading the law I was talking about. Please, please, please ignore what I said earlier while I stall for time until this whole thing blows over."
Am I missing something here? (Score:5, Informative)
I mean... WTF?
I read the article and reread and reread it, and I cannot even begin to see how, from *ANY* perspective that I can conceive of some other even modestly intelligent person having, that one could come to the conclusions that he did.
Most conspiracy theories I've heard of have at least a shred of something to at least build the conspiracy on, but I just can't find any evidence of it in that article.
Re:Correction to summary (Score:5, Informative)
One correction - The incumbent in this election for governor is Bill Ritter who is not running for re-election. Maes Democratic opponent is John Hickenlooper who is currently the mayor of Denver
Correction to correction: Dan Maes somehow managed to win the Republican primary so he's the Republican candidate. He's facing Hickenlooper and independent-with-name-recognition Tom Tancredo, who ran for US President in 2008. Usually third-party candidates don't have a chance, but Tancredo has a lot of local support, so right now he's polling 18% [rasmussenreports.com] with Hickenlooper at about 40% and Maes with about 30%.
As an aside, every time I ride through Denver I see dozens of people out on those cute red bicycles. It's an amazingly successful program, that isn't supported by Federal, State, or local funds, and since the individuals who use the bikes have a financial stake (deposit, credit card info) in keeping the bikes in reasonable shape, it has a much higher chance of being successful in the long-term than many of the other city bike programs that have been floated. Plus, the bikes are keen. They weigh a ton but they have a huge cargo basket, so they're actually useful for lugging stuff. Two weeks ago I saw a couple riding them and they had a kid's bicycle in the basket of one bike, and the kid herself in the basket of the other bike -- not a WISE thing, but indicative of the flexibility the bikes can provide. They have front and rear lights that are always on when the bike's moving, compliments of a hub generator system, so they're quite visible. I think it's a fantastic program.
I can't find the article right now but Dan Maes is on record as saying that Denver's bike program "may threaten our personal freedoms [denverpost.com]". Once you realize that the last job Maes had was as a used car salesman, his feelings might be more understandable, if not more sensible.
Re:Not so fast (Score:5, Informative)
Reality check. The government has been involved in transportation for as long as there have been public roads.
I don't know the details of this program. I have definite preferences for how I'd like to see something like this structured, and depending on the details I might or might not support it.
But to claim its a new expansion of government power just doesn't make sense. State and local governments in major cities always have their hands in public transportation in one way or another; it's true for bus, light rail, subway, etc.; so what's so special about bikes?
Besides that, it would be quite a jump to extrapolate from "any old minor expansion of the government's function" to "restriction of personal liberties" and "population control". Can you propose a theory as to how this program contributes, even as a "tip of the wedge", to the surrendering of personal liberty to the government?
Re:Gov Conspiracy (Score:3, Informative)
That's about as likely as Hitler's ghost running a successful campaign for Prime Minster of Israel. Even Republicans won't vote for a Palin presidency, no one is that suicidal.
Re:I didn't know (Score:4, Informative)
Poor Article (Score:3, Informative)
He goes on to argue that the bicycle program is only a gateway into bigger policies including, but not limited to, forced abortions and population control.
Someone else said that, not Crazy Maes. I don't think the summary summarizes the story very well ...
The story itself doesn't summarize things well. The person it's quoting is Nate Strauch, but we're never told that he's the spokesperson for Maes's campaign.
Re:I can see it... (Score:3, Informative)
It's designed for people traveling to Urban areas that don't have good public transportation. You take a bus/train/etc to the transit hub for an urban area then use the bike to get where you need to go. Once you're done with your business return the bike to a rental station and hop back onto the bus. Heck, it's not a bad deal for congested cities where you could park on the outskirts of downtown and then use the bike for the rest of the trip.
Re:Commie Bikes !!! (Score:4, Informative)
At last a challenger to onetime New Hampshire governor Meldrim Thomson as the craziest governor ever. Amongst numerous bizarre actions and ideas, Thomson wanted to arm the New Hampshire National Guard with nuclear weapons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meldrim_Thomson,_Jr [wikipedia.org].
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/20/local/me-53359 [latimes.com]
Before you invent another UN conspiracy... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The problem I have with B-cycle. (Score:3, Informative)
As a person who does virtually all my personal transportation by bicycle, I am going to request that you read the goddamn book of traffic laws for your state. In every state in this country and in virtually the rest of the world, bicycles are vehicles and have exactly as much a right to the road as cars, motorcycles, scooters, or any other vehicle. In fact, most cities explicitly prohibit bicycles from riding on the sidewalks.
I have to have this same conversation with every damn person who honks at me for riding a bicycle on the road. Non-motorized pathways, including separate bike paths or sidewalks, are actually more dangerous than cycling on the road — various studies peg the number from anywhere between two to seven times as dangerous. And I can say from my own personal experience that of the 3,700 miles I have logged, fewer than 10 of them in aggregate have been on sidewalks, and I've been hit by a car while on the sidewalk.
To sum, cyclists are not required by law to ride in bike lanes, on bike paths, or on the sidewalks, and in fact that's usually the most dangerous place for them to possibly be. Sidewalks and bike paths are dangerous because drivers aren't looking for objects traveling 20mph off the road, and it's incredibly easy to be hit while crossing intersections, driveways, or parking lot entrances. Bike lanes are often more dangerous because they are commonly located in the "door zone" for parallel-parked cars, putting you right in the way of absent-minded drivers flinging their doors open directly in front of you. So share the damn road already, and be grateful that someone else in the world is making the roads safer for you at a greatly increased risk to their own bodies while reducing overall traffic congestion (cycling reduces usage of main thoroughfares and distributes the load to less-trafficked side streets)
You're welcome.
Re:yatta (Score:3, Informative)
Agree. The current population level of this planet is too damn high if we are going to have any sort of quality of life. Otherwise what is going on is completely unsustainable. I'd even say 1 billion is excessive. The Club of Rome seems to think maybe half that is about right.
If we continue down the current road there will be another form of population control - the earth's environment will degrade to the point where we will have a 'Great Die-Back'.
It is a truism that no life form can live in it's own waste products. We that's where we are heading and quite rapidly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5iFESMAU58 [youtube.com]
Re:FTFA: (Score:4, Informative)
if everybody on the planet each got a knife made out of recycled glass and used it carefully to murder a neighbour, then the whole problem would be halved over night.
If everybody went next door to murder a neighbor, no one would be next door to be a victim.
You assume one occupant per house, or one destination per household. If the average household has 2 people in it, and they went to different houses, then everyone would be in their neighbor's living room having a knife fight with their neighbor's neighbor, while their neighbors and their neighbors' neighbors' neighbors fought in their neighbors' neighbors' living rooms.
neighbor
Re:I didn't know (Score:3, Informative)
He didn't do any of that, according to all the liberals I know, Bush was a puppet and Darth Cheney was pulling the strings.
Re:Republican (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Commie Bikes !!! (Score:5, Informative)
Why does the summary not mention that this guy, who believes bicycles are part of an evil globalist plot, is a Tea Party-backed Republican?
Am I wrong in thinking that's kind of an important detail to leave out?
Re:Not so fast (Score:3, Informative)
Can you propose a theory as to how this program contributes, even as a "tip of the wedge", to the surrendering of personal liberty to the government?
Isn't it obvious? Bikes are the last form of anonymous transport -- no license plates. These bikes will be marked and we will all be tracked by the NSA who will share the information with the Rand Corporation who will sell it to their partners in the Bildeberg Group!!!!!
Re:Lower Sperm Counts! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Lower Sperm Counts! (Score:4, Informative)
well, as a girl with muscular thighs, I wear em to keep my regular shorts from getting holes worn right through the crotch.
Most bike seats are (ironically) designed for male hips/legs. The horn tends to be in exactly the wrong place for female riders and will constantly rub against our pants.
girls bike shorts are a) designed to take this wear and will often have extra material in that area, and b) are tighter to the skin so wear less.
Re:Behold, this is America (Score:1, Informative)
No, he didn't beat the incumbent. The incumbent is Bill Ritter, a Democrat not running for re-election.
Maes actually edged out Scott McInnis, who was pushed forward by the local Republican leadership, but crashed and burned after it was discovered that he'd plagiarized large portions of a water use report. Making it worse for McInnis, it turned out that report was created as part of a $300,000 consulting job on which he did very little work. McInnis then tried to blame it all on an elderly researcher he'd paid a small amount to actually write the report prior to passing it off as his own work.
Maes probably would have won bigger if not for this bike silliness and some other questions about his claimed successes as a businessman. As it was, things got so bad that Tom Tancredo threatened to enter the race on a third-party ticket if Maes and McInnis didn't both drop out so that Republicans could nominate someone who might be seen as credible. They didn't drop out, Tancredo followed through, and is now splitting the vote on the right. As long as Tancredo is in, Maes has no chance whatsover.
Re:Lower Sperm Counts! (Score:3, Informative)
They are significantly (!) more comfortable, and protect against damaging skin abrasion that is common when loose fabric gets bunched between thighs and the saddle where it rubs thousands of times in a day's ride. Think of bleeding blisters on your inner thighs, with sweat dripping on them.
As for revealing crotch parts, actual cycling shorts have a thick pad through the crotch area which makes it highly unlikely that any anatomical bits are actually emphasized other than in the mind of the viewer. (With male riders the padded package may be farther away than it appears, though...) Spandex workout shorts without the pad are not the same thing at all, and can be quite... um... form-fitting.
With that said, I am not now in the svelte form I once was, and in the interest of preserving the sanity and eyesight of my neighbors, I have desisted the wearing of such in favor of baggy cycling shorts. Of course, I've also switched to a mountain bike, and ride primarily off the roads.
Re:FTFA: (Score:4, Informative)
Because technologically advanced countries, with their higher standards of living & higher literacy & education standards are NOT the countries contributing the lion's share of population growth, by and large. In fact, I remember reading that some European countries actually have declining populations, when you factor out immigration from other countries as an increase to their populations.
Your assertion that it's "always been the case until now" is not borne out by the facts. A population's growth will tend to stabilize or even decline as education and living standards for that population increase - we've seen this case play out repeatedly in industrialized countries.
Of course there's a practical limit to growth - and we are well short of it. The earth's land masses have a surface area of ~150 million km square - 1.5x10^14 square meters; with 7 billion people on earth, that translates to roughly 20,000 square meters per person, or 47 people per square kilometer. I think you'll find that population densities in quite-livable cities regularly exceed that - New York's density is roughly 11,000 / km2. Even if the average population density on earth doubled to 100 per square kilometer, we still would be nowhere near having a world that is one giant city with no natural open spaces.
If we fit everybody in the world into a city with the population density of NYC, it'd be a city of about 637,000 sq. km. This is smaller than the size of Texas, which is about 696,000 sq. km. So, at the density of NYC, everybody on earth could fit into an area the size of Texas. Leaving the rest of the North America, and all the other 6 continents... completely uninhabited by humans.