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Bicycles As a Gateway To Government Control
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."
that the UN would be coordinated enough with all of its corruption and ineffectiveness (especially if you listen to guys like Maes) to execute such a nefarious plot.
No matter how way out these whack-jobs are, there are people who believe them and will vote for them.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
Also brought to you by the Folks Who Is Convinced That Mr. Obama is one of them Muzlams
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
In case you care, he's a Republican. I wonder how closely he follows the party line? Or maybe party is irrelevant on /.
If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
Bless their pointy little heads.
No incumbents, not no where, not no how.
Vote them out every term.
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
"It's all part of this population control mentality that we as humans are the disease," Strauch said.
Yes, from the point of the view of the planet and every other living thing, we are the disease. There's somewhere around 6+ billion people, happily eating, consuming, polluting, and destroying to our hearts' content. Installing higher efficiency light bulbs or buying Prius' or switching to riding a bike aren't going to avert a collapse in our global ecology/economy. We have to stop destroying our food and ecosystems on which we rely and undo the damage we've done. In short, stop charging to our children's credit cards, start paying them off, then start saving. Switching to riding a bike is like spending just a little less on their credit cards. We have to do so much more.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
I think that it's about time we fluoridate this guy's drinking water!
OMG! There's a socialist under every rock, and we need to protect ourselves from these anti-consumerist, anti-free trade, anti-American perpetrators of evil! Sharing bikes is a sign of socialism, and everyone needs to buy their own bike if we are to have a free and functioning democracy. If we let these socialist put bikes out there to share, it is inevitable they will hook our young children on their evil ideas of sharing. Once people start sharing, particularly government purchased stuffs, our young will grow into people who will want a bigger government which provides more stuffs to share. Where will it end? It won't end with bikes. It won't end with cars, RVs, boats or the like. No, soon the government will grow to offer all sorts of things. This bike program is really a back door route to medical health care. If we're getting free bikes to use, we'll want free health care. That's when the socialists have got us. Of course, free medical care will lead to limiting children, death panels, and LSD. Stop the socialists today, "Just say no to bicycles!".
Judging by history, nearly every single expansion of government power is later used as precedent for yet even more expansion of government power. Every year we are subject to more laws, more spending, and increasingly larger attacks on our freedom (from our own government that is, not the enemy du jour). It's obvious that if expanding the business of government isn't the #1 priority, it's damn near close.
There's a reason why the US government of today dwarfs the US government of only 50, let alone 100 years ago, both in revenue and power over the people -- and it's not because the elite at the top don't know exactly how to expand their business.
Therefore, the only way to be free is to be stupid and waste resources.
The Invisible Hand of the Free Market is what punches workers in the nuts.
"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.
Use people's fears and suck them in.
I don't find the politicians as disgusting as the morons who buy into the rhetoric; which unfortunately, they have enough sway to set the tone of politics in this country.
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
mccarthyism was an era of fear of "secret communists" everywhere, and joe mccarthy successfully inserted himself as demagogue in chief of the wave of fear and hysteria sweeping the land in the time of sputnik and soviets with an atom bomb. strangely, it was also an era when 3D movies were all the rage... spin that observation into your own paranoid schizophrenic conspiracy theory
one of the up and coming tea party types will be the next joe mccarthy. they will use this sort of paranoid schizophrenic break with reality to describe "secret muslims" (that's what obama is, ya know), "secret socialists", "secret fascists", etc. taken on their own, theses hysterical creative inventions are like a farcical hollywood movie. but so many actually and truly believe this crap
there's just a certain panicky low iq kind of human, in the usa and other countries, who is apparently about as gullible as a toddler in a carnival haunted house ride, and for whatever reason, they only believe the most fantastical fearful propaganda they encounter. i guess reality is too mundane and boring? i don't know what to do about these people, they have these coordinated waves of fear throughout history, and i don't know if there is an effective way to defuse their delusional problems before they damage our societies
its the same as the salem witch trials: she dresses funny, and floats, so she's a witch, so kill her before she hurts us. in the era of joe mccarthy, it was fluoridated water (fluoridated water was not to strengthen teeth, but to turn you into a communist). later there were "chemtrails": jet airplanes contrails were seeding the atmosphere with mind control chemicals. people really and truly believed and believe this nonsense. its alternatively hilarious and frightening. it tells you the mentality of how lynch mobs form, its a sad phenomenon of human sociology
and this manipulated fearmongered hysteria is the mentality that is sweeping the land right now. sad
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
It doesn't matter if his point is legitimate, or if he clearly makes the statement that he wants time to study what the mayor has signed onto. He's a republican and he doesn't like bikes. This has nothing to do with an environmental initiative that is being spearheaded without review. Remember if you want bills to be read by congress before they are voted on then you are a racist who doesn't like the children or the poor. It's funny who people who opposed the Patriot Act for all the right reasons turn a blind eye to this new wave of legislation that is going through without checks or balances of any kind, and without even the time for everyone to know what it's all about. Remember Ted Stevens said the Internet is made of tubes, not that he did anything good or bad. Move along folks, nothing to see here other than a Republican who doesn't like bikes.
That's the whole point about programs for the greater good, though-- it need not turn a profit because it's FOR THE GREATER GOOD. Yeah, sometimes small businesses get wiped out. If that's your most important criteria, you will never make a change for the better, because it will always have some bad.
People complain all the time that Amtrak doesn't make a profit, but... nobody seems to notice or care that our roads don't either.
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."
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.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
You could argue that increasing bicycle usage was the opposite effect-- of decreasing governmental control and increasing freedom. Right now we're reliant on a massive government-controlled system of roads which we travel on via government-subsidized vehicles. Automobiles are big and regulated and subsidized and result in a sort of "central planning". Bicycles on the other hand-- anyone can build a bicycle. A bicycle doesn't need a road, and bike paths are much easier to build/move.
I suspect this comes more from the belief that if something is healthy and environmentally friendly and doesn't subsidize big businesses, then it must be some kind of nefarious socialist hippie plot.
I don't understand... is he saying that forced abortions are a bad thing?
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
Bike sharing is forced population control? Perhaps because when you have a bike accident, you slip from your seat and bust your nuts on the horizontal frame bar?
The government can have control of my bicycle when they pry it from my cold, dead cleats.
It seems like the crazy theories are getting more traction (at least, they're getting more people talking about them as if they were real).
I blame the media - Glenn Beck, FOX, CNN. It's apparently cheaper to yammer on about random stuff than to pay real journalists to gather real news. And it seems to get better ratings. Of course, this increase in ratings means that the old line news organizations see they are losing out and feel the need to climb onto the bandwagon. And, of course, we all enjoy a bit of gossip and a good conspiracy theory.
It's all fun and games until a majority of people in your town start thinking of the National Enquirer as a reliable source of news. Seriously, people, some of this stuff is from WAY out in left field. {joke alert} Even I'm starting to believe Obama's "long form" (because the "short form" and a legal affadavit from the Hawaiian secretary of state aren't good enough) birth certificate is being hidden at the UN to keep us from learning the truth!
So...how do we reverse this and encourage more critical thinking? I fear for our democracy if this silliness continues much longer.
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.
===== will post for karma
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.
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/20/local/me-53359
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
Don't know about you guys, but I'm definitely putting tin foil on the seat before I sit on it.
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?
You are welcome on my lawn.
It's a comfort and protection thing. It's the same reason people wear shoes, or gloves if they're doing something that may otherwise wear/cut the hands. When you think of someone who rides 30 miles daily (not an outlandish number AT ALL if you're into it), the number of times you cycle your legs is certainly enough to chafe if you're just wearing boxers and shorts, for example. Of course, some may wear them to prove they're serious about cycling, or because they WANT people to look at their labia, but that's just people being silly geese.
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.
the preceding post was not spell checked... suck it.
It goes against the Republican party's values. They only believe in killing people after they've been born.
The political spectrum in America has shifted so far to the right that pre-80s Republicans and modern-day Democrats are very similar. Eisenhower, Nixon, Theodore Roosevelt, would all be drummed out of the Republican party today for being extreme liberal socialists.
Particularly fatal bike riding.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
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.
WALSTIB!
In other words, he's using the Sarah Palin playbook that both Sharron Angle and Rand Paul bought: Say something completely stupid and/or insane in the presence of national media or bloggers, and later blame them for publishing the stupid/insane thing you said.
I can't imagine why the idiot right-wing candidates would adopt this strategy, considering that Palin was a major factor in her party's loss in 2008. Oh, wait...
"We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
An interesting effect of this is that your "left wing" president is in complete lock step with the UK Conservative party which has been accused of being the most right-wing mainstream political party in Europe.
I heard a rumour once that they have some advisers in common. Anyone know who?
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
The political spectrum in America has shifted so far to the right that pre-80s Republicans and modern-day Democrats are very similar. Eisenhower, Nixon, Theodore Roosevelt, would all be drummed out of the Republican party today for being extreme liberal socialists.
How so, and by what measure do you say this? During Ike's term, defense spending took up 50 percent of the total budget. It's been nowhere near that since then, even during Reagan's term. Ike had an anti-illegal immigration program... Operation Wetback... that actually rounded up illegal Mexicans by the shipfull, and then sailed them down to southern Mexico and dropped them off at their southern borders so they couldn't immediately re-cross our border. Not only was Bush II pro-amnesty, Reagan signed an amnesty that instantly legalized millions of illegals. Reagan made the VA... truly, a socialized medicine scheme... a freakin' cabinet position, and Dubya signed a prescription drug benefit program into law that would have given FDR a boner. Ike, meanwhile, told Americans that if they wanted new services, they'd have to pay for it upfront with new taxes, right now.
Tell me again how much farther to the right Republicans are today? Really? If anything, this is one of the things New Gingrich is actually right about, when he called guys like Bob Dole... who supported Obamacare, by the way... a "tax collector for the welfare state".
And Teddy Roosevelt? How do you think he would have responded to 9/11? I'll lay cash that it wouldn't have been with Dubya's soothing speeches about how "Islam is a religion of peace". The Rough Rider would have turned Mecca into a sea of glass. So enough with the "today's GOP is so extreme" nonsense. Compared to what?
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
An interesting effect of this is that your "left wing" president is in complete lock step with the UK Conservative party which has been accused of being the most right-wing mainstream political party in Europe.
Really? Because Brits think that our President hates their guts. One of the first things he did was to diss the sitting Labour Prime Minister. So you're honestly going to argue that Barack Obama has warm feelings for the Tories?
And just who is it that's "accusing" the UK Conservative Party of being the most right-wing of the mainstream parties in Europe? Would that be, oh.... Labour? I mean, that would be a shock now, wouldn't it?
Life is hard, and the world is cruel