Are Bike Lanes Redundant? Florida Republican John Mica thinks so!

[peestandingup]

More bicycles = less wear and tear on the roads = roads last longer.  We do contribute our part!  

Any form of in-city transportation, other than by your own personal automobile, is considered not part of the "system" around here & in much of the country. And I for one, am getting pretty god damn sick of it.

They all want you to buy into this little game of car ownership so you can pay your monthly car payment + insurance + gas + maintenance + get tickets written, etc like a good little slave. And if you try to rebel or do things different (or just plain can't afford that insanity), they make it extremely difficult on you & you suffer GREATLY for it. Crap transit, no bike lanes, not even a freakin' shoulder to ride on so you don't you know, die. Not to mention get labeled as a loser.

So basically if you don't play the game, they make sure you get total-fucked for it. I hate it so much.

[Garden guy]

A republican that thinks a modern idea is not a good idea...what a suprise...they should just stay in 1930 where they belong.

[JeffreyS]

No in 1930 we had transit and people were happy to have a bike.  No Republican thinking like this is not backward it is about making sure there is only one vision for how an American should live their life.  This is why I don't understand why Libertarians and groups like the Tea Party line up to support them. I guess it is the Bush tax cuts those groups love so much.

[Dog Walker]

Please, the Tea Party types are NOT libertarians.  They are conservative Republicans and Christian zealots; anti-some parts of government regulation, but not others.

There is an old joke:  The Republicans want your money to be free from government, but want to regulate what goes on in your bedroom and the Democrats don't care what you do in your bedroom, but want to regulate your money.

A true libertarian says that government should not regulate either except to prevent or correct harm done to others.  Which is why, as a libertarian, I support strong regulation of Wall Street and financial institutions.

[JeffreyS]

I was not trying to equate Libertarians and The Tea Party.  I was just wondering why they believe their different positions more align with Republicans.  The Tea Party's main drive seems to be to slash spending which the Republicans only talk about in their read my lips speeches.  The Libertarians main drive seems to be Freedom which the Republican leadership in practice seems to be against.

[Dog Walker]

Too many people who might consider themselves libertarians have drunk the Tea flavored Kool-Aide that is being peddled by Murdock and the Kochs and haven't looked at what is actually happening when the Baggers get elected.

[FayeforCure]

Too many people who might consider themselves libertarians have drunk the Tea flavored Kool-Aide that is being peddled by Murdock and the Kochs and haven't looked at what is actually happening when the Baggers get elected.

Corporate welfare is the name of the game, every time! Whether is disguised as the Tea Party, or even in the case of so-called laisez-faire libertarians.

[peestandingup]

What happens when you ride in the bike lane http://www.break.com/index/what-happens-when-you-ride-in-the-bike-lane-2069543

[Ocklawaha]

Why are southern governments so against people with disabilities? Is it just because federal laws made them do something that requires time, effort and extra money? I mean, it seems as if, if you aren't one of them, voted for them or kicked in millions in campaign contributions, then you do not matter and do not fall into the benefits of being southern! Isn't this America? or are they still trying to be the Confederacy? I'll bet they'd bring back slavery if they could find a way! Their feelings on people with disabilities and/or people who don't or can't drive resembles a modern Jim Crow philosophy! Down with southern governments as they are today! There are lots more good southerners than bad southerners, Please, good people of the south, for the love of God, get involved in politics and drive out the old, dried up, stupid and still prejudice idiots we currently have, please!

Urbanknight, the same government that supports these ideas educated you. I've never understood the contention that the Confederacy was about suppressing the black race, the north about equality, then immediately after the war it launched a war of extermination on native peoples. Humanitarians? Hardly.  

During Sherman's march to the sea, he had decided to destroy everything in his path, all food supplies both military and civilian , and regardless of race, to scatter families of the south even forcibly relocating many wives and 'desirable daughters' to the north, and undermine the morale of the military forces of the South by causing concern for their families whom had no food or a place for shelter.

The war on the south was a war against Southrons regardless if they were black, white, Jew or others. Slaves seized under the Confiscation Acts, as well as runaway slaves who turned themselves in to Union forces, were held in so-called "contraband" camps. President Jefferson Davis sharply criticized Union treatment of these blacks. After describing the starvation and suffering in these camps. Many blacks lost their lives in these internment camps, and considerably more suffered terribly as victims of hunger, exposure and neglect. In 1864, one Union officer called the death rate in these camps "frightful." But remember those history books told you the south lost the war partly because the north had all the food it needed... food for who?

 

• "There is physical difference between the two which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position.
  
     I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races; I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people." Abe Lincoln

I think the tendency to refuse to follow the ADA stems from a couple of deep seated gut feelings.
1. A mindset of, "Your ancestors might have whipped my ancestors but you ain't whipped me yet!"
2. No 'damned Yankee' is telling me what to do.
3. POVERTY, something handed down among even the wealthiest families of the south and a spin off tradition of counting every penny...TWICE.

Racism as we know it didn't stem from the Confederacy, just using Jacksonville as an example until about 1900 we were an integrated society heavy on interracial marriages.  

No racism in that. Don't let the fools in the white sheets fool you - they don't have a clue what the south was about, and don't believe the victors stories in your history books.


OCKLAWAHA

[FayeforCure]

I think the tendency to refuse to follow the ADA stems from a couple of deep seated gut feelings.
1. A mindset of, "Your ancestors might have whipped my ancestors but you ain't whipped me yet!"
2. No 'damned Yankee' is telling me what to do.
3. POVERTY, something handed down among even the wealthiest families of the south and a spin off tradition of counting every penny...TWICE.




OCKLAWAHA

Ah, not even an ounce of compassion for the disabled among their own! The You're On Your Own (YOYO) mentality at its finest!!

[danem]

What happens when you ride in the bike lane http://www.break.com/index/what-happens-when-you-ride-in-the-bike-lane-2069543

hahahaha, the crashing into the back of the moving van was priceless.

I wanted to add sometimes a "bike lane" is this tiny strip of pavement that sometimes has a drainage hole thing on the side, and the pavement slopes towards it. Imagine encountering one of these while a large truck zooms by on the other side.

[peestandingup]

What happens when you ride in the bike lane http://www.break.com/index/what-happens-when-you-ride-in-the-bike-lane-2069543

hahahaha, the crashing into the back of the moving van was priceless.

I wanted to add sometimes a "bike lane" is this tiny strip of pavement that sometimes has a drainage hole thing on the side, and the pavement slopes towards it. Imagine encountering one of these while a large truck zooms by on the other side.

Yeah, I LOLed at that too. The crashing into the cab blocking the lane was a good one as well.

But the video is kind of what we've been talking about in a couple threads on this subject. That sometimes your bike isn't safe in certain places, so the rider has to adjust for that accordingly. Whether it be riding outside the bike lane because some asshole is blocking it with their car/there's some kind of obstructions, or if you're in Jacksonville, the rider having to resort to riding on a deserted sidewalk because there aren't any bike lanes at all (and a lot of times not even a paved shoulder).

[Ralph W]

It seems that you could ride your bike safely, as long as it was 50 years ago.

I rode all over my home town of New Haven, CT and even on the Interstate at times. I don't remember the exact route but I would ride from Westville to the New Haven Railroad Station to read the comic books at the news stand, watch the trains and even get a few rides in the engine cab. (No way could you do that today).

[Ocklawaha]

Ah, not even an ounce of compassion for the disabled among their own! The You're On Your Own (YOYO) mentality at its finest!!

There is usually a fine display of assisting each other in Veterans Facilities, but then the military is a brother/sisterhood.

To Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir!" "I've Done My Time In Hell."

Otherwise I agree Faye, perhaps its that NOBODY wants to be broken and focusing on projects for the disabled is a constant reminder of that disability. It takes a special kind of person to show compassion.  But you and I are preaching to the choir... perhaps we should start our own group "Former Flower Children for Compassion."


OCKLAWAHA

[FayeforCure]

Ah, not even an ounce of compassion for the disabled among their own! The You're On Your Own (YOYO) mentality at its finest!!

There is usually a fine display of assisting each other in Veterans Facilities, but then the military is a brother/sisterhood.

To Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir!" "I've Done My Time In Hell."

Otherwise I agree Faye, perhaps its that NOBODY wants to be broken and focusing on projects for the disabled is a constant reminder of that disability. It takes a special kind of person to show compassion.  But you and I are preaching to the choir... perhaps we should start our own group "Former Flower Children for Compassion."


OCKLAWAHA

Yeah, Ock, what happened to the flower children and the ideals of our generation? I guess their flower power wilted Everyone of them turned into a yuppie in the 80s.

So wish the young would embrace some of those ideals again, but they are too busy being distracted and just surviving in today's society.

The able-bodied bravado is just soooooooo make-believe. Anyone of us can become disabled at the drop of a hat. Heck, most of us will encounter disability in old age. AND I find it so disgraceful to our veterans, many of whom return from Iraq and Afghanistan to a disabled-hostile society.

Rather than being in denial, we can make life easier for those who get there before we do. After all, that is what a civilized society is all about.