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Bicycles: the new conservative enemy
Maclean's ^ | July 16, 2013 | Jaime Weinman

Posted on 07/18/2013 6:08:03 PM PDT by rickmichaels

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1 posted on 07/18/2013 6:08:03 PM PDT by rickmichaels
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To: rickmichaels

It is bizarre.


2 posted on 07/18/2013 6:13:57 PM PDT by babble-on
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To: rickmichaels

NO! It is not that conservatives associate bicycle riders with environmentalists. It is that bicyclists don’t share the road, but they hog it. They go ten miles an hour while vehicles go 40, so you have to practically stall if you are behind them. They don’t let you pass because their attitude is - ‘We are equal to cars.” Well, no they are not. And then the cities add bicycle lanes and take out a traffic lane to do so. Let’s see, what else? Oh yes, they are arrogant. They drive through intersections without stopping, and they ignore other vehicle laws. I cannot stand bicyclists.

They should ride on side streets and not on main arteries. !!!!!


3 posted on 07/18/2013 6:20:33 PM PDT by bboop (does not suffer fools gladly)
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To: rickmichaels
The Federal government is throwing out millions to cities for dedicated "bike lanes". One thing no city can pass up is Federal dollars. Gotta keep those pension funds pumped up.

In my city they have replaced two good 10 foot wide lanes on the major thoroughfares with two 8 foot wide lanes and a 4 foot wide bike lane.

Sadly, I think somebody is going to be killed.

4 posted on 07/18/2013 6:21:35 PM PDT by Last Dakotan
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To: rickmichaels

After visiting Amsterdam, these guys would have a coronary if they went there. Bicycles rule there.


5 posted on 07/18/2013 6:22:49 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: rickmichaels
All those bicycle paths the Lefties are shoving down our throats at the cost of millions of dollars a mile?

They are nothing but happy hunting grounds for the Trayvon Martins of this world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeLZgRMHW_M

6 posted on 07/18/2013 6:23:15 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
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To: rickmichaels
“I don’t like the kind of people who ride bicycles.”

I don't mind the people who ride bikes at all. The kind of people that I don't like are the ones who want to use any form of government action to force me (or anyone else) to ride one against my will.

They're usually the same people who are decrying "urban sprawl" in the name of "sustainability".

7 posted on 07/18/2013 6:23:57 PM PDT by Bob
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To: rickmichaels

if they paid for their own lanes and not taxpayers no one would care


8 posted on 07/18/2013 6:24:33 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: rickmichaels

government owned bikes - of course we oppose socialism


9 posted on 07/18/2013 6:26:48 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: rickmichaels

After hearing numerous accounts of horrific injuries sustained by bicyclists and by pedestrian struck by them — I believe in common sense bicycle control.

I’m saying that bicycles should be banned altogether. Just regulated so as to eliminate the threat they pose to public safety.

Any extremist who actually wants to own a bicycle need only register it with a local government run velodrome. And keep it there.

Whenever they want to ride their bicycle they can go to the government run velodrome and ride it in circles for as long as they please.

It is only common sense.


10 posted on 07/18/2013 6:30:39 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: Bob
Thx Bob!

I am a conservative fanatic...but I also ride a bike for exercise. And I don't want to be run over for political reasons.

I smile and wave at any and all who pass me by in cars. I am polite to a fault...even when I am dog-tired.

We conservatives don't need to pick unnecessary fights...we need to stay on message.

11 posted on 07/18/2013 6:30:50 PM PDT by RoosterRedux (You can't eat Sharia)
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To: Last Dakotan
The Federal government is throwing out millions to cities for dedicated "bike lanes". One thing no city can pass up is Federal dollars.

That's my problem with them. The morons who tell me that "Bikes are the future of transportation" are just the icing on the cake.
12 posted on 07/18/2013 6:31:45 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: rickmichaels

“Will sneered. Alter says that, to some pundits, cyclists are “a powerful force trying to squeeze cars off the road,” and “every advance by the cyclists is seen as an attack on the suburban way of life.”

Will,is right, but he underestimates the destruction that bicyclists and the bike lobby afflict upon the suburban way life and ultimately the American way of life and Christian values.

They use the roads that we pay for, they slow us down on our daily commutes to work, depriving us of freedom and profit, they attack our values in a manner similar to the homosexual lobby.

They deny business to our auto and oil industries and put our lives at risk.


13 posted on 07/18/2013 6:32:07 PM PDT by Wellington VII
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To: GeronL

I’m a conservative and LOVE bicycling!

Have several, including a custom-made recumbent. Also built an electric one that goes 30mph.


14 posted on 07/18/2013 6:33:42 PM PDT by bicyclerepair (Inbred, pedophile-worshipping, misogynists (mozlums) offend me.)
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To: bicyclerepair

individuals buying a bike is fine - socialist government bike programs are stupid


15 posted on 07/18/2013 6:35:26 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: bboop
It is that bicyclists don’t share the road, but they hog it.

It is as if they willfully ignore the "lug-nut-count-right-of-way" rule.

Whoever has the most lug nuts has the right-of-way.

That's the way I've rolled for the past 52 years (yes, I was driving 90,000 lb. loaded grain trucks 60 miles to town at age 9).

16 posted on 07/18/2013 6:38:49 PM PDT by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: bboop

As a cyclist, I understand how you feel. You cast us as the liberals cast conservatives; we’re in the way of you doing things your way. So you make up stories based on what you think others think.

Such thinking is the core of liberalism.

A cyclist has never slowed me down for more than a few seconds. It’s such a loss of my important time. end sarcasm.


17 posted on 07/18/2013 6:39:30 PM PDT by Loud Mime (Liberal: A person who charges their grandchildren for today's party)
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To: rickmichaels

I like bicycles. Sometimes, you need a little extra power, so they should have engines on them. They are also a bit unstable, so they should have four wheels. I’m all for four wheeled bicycles with gasoline engines. And sometimes it rains or snows, so they should be enclosed. Enclosed, four wheeled gasoline powered bicycles. I think there might be a market for those.


18 posted on 07/18/2013 6:40:10 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: bboop
NO! It is not that conservatives associate bicycle riders with environmentalists. It is that bicyclists don’t share the road, but they hog it. They go ten miles an hour while vehicles go 40, so you have to practically stall if you are behind them. They don’t let you pass because their attitude is - ‘We are equal to cars.” Well, no they are not. And then the cities add bicycle lanes and take out a traffic lane to do so. Let’s see, what else? Oh yes, they are arrogant. They drive through intersections without stopping, and they ignore other vehicle laws. I cannot stand bicyclists.

I'm a bicyclist and I agree with most of what you're saying. If bicyclists want to be treated like vehicles and use public streets, they need to act like them. Few things tick me off more than to see, while I'm driving a car, other bicyclists doing things like skirting traffic, cruising through intersections, riding two abreast and other illegal activities.

The people who REALLY tick me off are the "Critical Mass-holes". Sometimes I wonder if AC-130 gunships weren't tailor made to deal with them ...

Now, having said that, I support concepts like dedicated bike lanes (which help get cars and bikes out of each other's hair and actually enable the better flow of traffic where bikes and cars are both present - which is increasingly going to be the case) and park and bike lots where people can split their commutes between car and bikes.

And I don't say this out of any sort of "green" nonsense. Biking to work makes sense for a heck of a lot of people. If I could do the last 1/3 of my commute to work on my bike it would save me money (both in gasoline/wear-tear on my car, and in terms of paying exorbitant downtown parking costs) and make me healthier through exercise. But I fully acknowledge that's a personal decision and I would never begrudge anyone for wanting to do differently.
19 posted on 07/18/2013 6:42:08 PM PDT by tanknetter
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To: rickmichaels

Fort Worth, Texas has a rent-a-bike program. I thought it was cool we had it before NYC.


20 posted on 07/18/2013 6:49:15 PM PDT by Nomad577
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