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The Nation's Pulse

The Left Has Become Comfortably Dumb

By on 10.31.11 @ 6:08AM

Our lips are moving, but they can’t hear what we’re saying.

Last week I received an email from a cycling group to which I belong. It was marked “urgent” and its subject line read as follows: “Federal Bike Funding Under Attack Again.” It implored me to contact my elected representatives in Washington and demand that they oppose an amendment introduced by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to the Transportation Enhancements program. Never heard of TE? Well, it’s administered by the Federal Highway Administration and provides funding for the “provision of pedestrian and bicycle facilities,” among other things. The proposed amendment, it seems, would redirect funding from such urgent national priorities to trivialities like infrastructure maintenance. The email cites the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed every year and declares, “We must defeat this amendment.”

As it happens, I know a little something about cycling accidents. I was hit by a car last year and had the uniquely unpleasant experience of bashing out a windshield with my head before flying through the air upside down. This is why my few loyal readers (Hi, Mom) were deprived of my brilliant effusions for about six weeks during the Summer of 2010. However, I was wearing a helmet at the time of my surprise encounter with that wayward automobile, so my brain was not damaged so badly that I actually believe it’s more important to spend taxpayer money on “Watch for Cyclists” signs than on the repair of vital infrastructure. Even when I was taking those delicious painkillers they gave me in the Emergency Room, I was never stoned enough to think that the wallets of my fellow citizens contain a limitless supply of cash.

And, make no mistake about it, that is precisely what our progressive friends believe. They are actually naïve enough to think that we can pay for all the goodies we want simply by raising taxes. Most progressives, including the journalists and politicians who promote their clueless agenda, come from upper middle class environments where everyone is pretty comfortable. They have lived their entire lives around the kind of people who actually commiserated with Barack Obama when he bemoaned the skyrocketing cost of arugula. Few have ever had a close relationship with anyone who does not enjoy a good deal of disposable income. Thus, they believe that raising taxes means nothing more draconian than fewer Gurkhas for some anonymous suit in a gleaming office building downtown.

This is why they so readily believe absurd canards about the Tea Party movement. It is far easier for them to believe the “closet racist” meme than to get their stunted intellects around the notion that there could be a genuine grassroots movement comprised of tapped out taxpayers. For progressives, “authentic” anti-government activists are well-heeled airheads like themselves. The classic example is the erstwhile Weather Underground leader and friend of the President whom Ann Coulter accurately describes thus: “[Bill] Ayers is such an imbecile, we ought to be amazed that he’s teaching at a university — even when you consider that it’s an ed school — except all former violent radicals end up teaching. Roughly 80 percent of former Weathermen are full college professors.”

Obviously, if you have been educated by teachers trained at universities that employ such people, you will be less adept at calculating opportunity cost than defecating in public, waving misspelled signs, and shouting incoherent slogans. Progressives in general, and the OWS demonstrators in particular, are utterly incapable of grasping the blindingly obvious reality that life in a world of finite resources requires us to make trade-offs. Indeed, they don’t understand that taxpayer revenue is a finite resource, even when more than nine percent of the work force remains unemployed. This is why they slander Tea Partiers who want nothing more than a government that controls spending and stops throwing our money away on poorly conceived and counterproductive boondoggles.

Which bring us back to my “urgent” email. Senator Paul describes the Transportation Enhancements program as a fund for “turtle tunnels and squirrel sanctuaries.” He is actually being too kind. In addition to bicycle facilities, TE funds such things as the control and removal of outdoor advertising, reduced vehicle-caused wildlife mortality, habitat connectivity (turtle tunnels), establishment of transportation museums, acquisition of scenic or historic easements, landscaping and scenic beautification and historic highway programs. As much as I love cycling and my fellow cyclists, it’s difficult to imagine a level of cluelessness that could actually advocate funding such things while allowing bridges to crumble. And yet my “urgent” email says TE is a “cost-effective, valuable program.”

Needless to say, none of TE’s “cost-effective, valuable programs” will prevent any of the pedestrian and bicycle fatalities cited in the email. It certainly wouldn’t have prevented my accident, which was caused by a driver who suddenly turned left across two lanes of traffic without bothering to signal. Habitat connectivity wouldn’t have helped. This is not to say that the episode was completely devoid of value. It did give me a sense of what life must be like for progressives. For a few moments after I crash-landed on the asphalt people were standing over me, talking to no effect. Like a lefty listening to Tea Partiers explaining that there isn’t enough money left in their wallets to waste on turtle tunnels, I could see their lips moving but couldn’t hear what they were saying. On the other hand, I wasn’t as comfortable or complacent as a progressive.

About the Author

David Catron is a health care revenue cycle expert who has spent more than twenty years working for and consulting with hospitals and medical practices. He has an MBA from the University of Georgia and blogs at Health Care BS.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (158) |

RJ| 10.31.11 @ 8:00AM

Good story. Another example of when you look into various programs that are government funded, so many of them do not really relate to governing. With an annual deficit of over a trillion dollars, we cannot afford such programs being funded by the government.

Mender| 10.31.11 @ 11:31AM

"David Catron is a health care revenue cycle expert."
Cycle paths last damn near forever. Getting people out of their cars has to be a good thing. It's an investment, just like the interstate system.

And maybe cycling could make people a bit fitter, and people wouldn't need so many hospitals and doctors: the Dutch spend half as much on healthcare as Americans and live longer. About a third as many are obese, too.

Peppermint Tea| 10.31.11 @ 12:18PM

Excuse me, but what article and section of the constitution is this in? Leave it to communities, not states or The State.

Moe Blotz| 10.31.11 @ 12:44PM

National Defense and Interstate Highways (the proper name for the interstate system) were paid for by those of us who use them. If you bike riders want to build special thorofares to pedal your arse around, pony up your own hard earned dollars. My fuel taxes should not be diverted from the intended use of building/repairing roads and bridges. My girth is none of your damn business.

Chalkdust| 10.31.11 @ 12:59PM

The Dutch are also free to smoke pot in public, could that be the reason of their longevity? Maybe it's because they spend more time living in their mother's basement (attic) and window shopping for prostitutes.
People who dredge up up Euro-trash statics to justify changing good old American behavior are unapologetic bed-wetters.

TrueBlue| 10.31.11 @ 2:01PM

Exactly. If the European system was so great, why is the whole area even more trashed than we are right now? The only countries recovering over there are the ones that have bothered to get this kind of spending under control, that SHOULD be a hint!

You want to get more money for cyclist junk? Require a cyclist license, complete with a fee and registration requirement similar to motor vehicle registration (better make it cheaper than a vehicle or nobody will use it), then you can spend that money on your dang bike paths. Can even put little license plates on the backs of the bicycles...

Foxfier | 11.2.11 @ 1:36AM

Make it two-tiered-- "pedestrian" bikes, for kids and those who don't want to ride on the road, and "vehicle" bikes, who have license plates and can go on the road, and are held accountable for following the rules of the highway. Make it similar to a vehicle license, maybe start at 14 or so, photo ID and all.

Can you tell I've had a lot of issues with bicyclists that think they're the only ones on the road?

Occam's Tool| 10.31.11 @ 8:15PM

Yes, the Dutch: Euthanasia and a below replacement birthrate.

We have a lower lifespan because of the Mexican women giving birth to preemies in our hospitals that are counted as live births here that would be considered non-viable in Holland. Not because of superior geriatric care there.

Incidentally, to prove my point: 1/2 of all babies born in LA county alone are born to illegal aliens. Four percent of ALL US babies born are born in LA County.

One county on the border. Then there's Arizona, Texas, New Mexico....

Charles Martel| 11.1.11 @ 10:39PM

Cycling to work is unacceptable in the hot and humid South. If an employee shows up looking like he's still at the gym, I'm sending him home, which, if he cycles home and back, doesn't solve the problem. The solution is a solid car with powerful air conditioning, and if the tree-hugging Stupid Hippies™ have a problem with that, they can go occupy themselves.

Of course, there's always public transportation, but that hot and humid thing will come up again, along with the odors of one's fellow passengers. Still, every bus full of riders can take as many as 80 cars off the road and out of my way.

+++

Alan Brooks| 10.31.11 @ 4:34PM

Squirrels and turtles?
Sounds like the Tea Party.

Charles Martel| 11.1.11 @ 10:39PM

I don't get it.

+++

martin j smith| 10.31.11 @ 8:26AM

The Left has tow components the sounding dumb part and the strategic plan part. Both are genuine and neither mutually exclusive. As to the strategy
it all about the 2012 elections. That is the whole ball of wax. The plan: Social disruption.

As to bicycle matters --you know many bike riders in my neck of the woos do not know \traffic rules at all and in fact don't give a crap about them and the do not give a care about pedestrians either. They do not care. Could this have something to do with their lack of civility and intelligence ?

Moe Blotz| 10.31.11 @ 8:30AM

The same crowd that wants all the federal funding for bike paths and other crap wants to chase big trucks off the highway as well.

Mender| 10.31.11 @ 12:54PM

Simply not true. In fact, cycling organisations in the UK run a programme where cyclists get put in the cab of a truck so they see how bad their visibility is and understand why they need to be so careful around them.

wodiej| 10.31.11 @ 8:45AM

I love bike riding but do not ride on the public streets-that's insane! Many cities have bike paths to divert the danger of doing this. Parks are great places to ride as well. Bikes do not belong on city streets.

DTOM| 10.31.11 @ 9:26AM

No bikes do not belong on city streets, not unless there's a citizen riding them. People riding bicycles is another example of citizens exercising their right to travel, their freedom of association.

So if you want bicycles banned from city streets, by extension do you also want motorcycles banned, and while we're at it, let's get the trucks banned, and let's get the SUV's banned, and let's get the private vehicles banned, and let's get the taxis banned. Yea, and yesterday some guy splashed me with his personal car, so they're banned, too.

Your statement that "bikes do not belong on city streets" is a perfect example of Ben Franklin's observation that "One who will trade freedom for safety will soon have neither."

Bike paths in parks tend to be chock a block with skaters of all stripes, joggers, walkers, moms-pushing-baby-carriages. These path users tend to be erratic and very unpredictable. A bicycle ridden at 16 - 18 mph, a speed easily achieved by anyone in even moderate shape, is a lethal vehicle to unprotected pedestrians. Two cyclists headed in opposite directions represent a head-on collision impact speed of over 35 mph. When cycling, I avoid bike paths whenever possible.

Maybe what you are trying to say is YOU don't belong on city streets. And if that's what you think, I encourage you to follow your beliefs. I also expect you to respect mine, too; especially as they represent my exercise of my God-given rights, as protected by the Constitution.

You'd even be safer if you were under your bed.

Appleby| 10.31.11 @ 11:28AM

Yes, you GOTTARIGHT to bike on the street (then why are so many of you on the sidewalks?) just as a canoe has the right of way over any Carnival Cruise Lines ship -- but there's GOTTARIGHT and there's right. People who want to live to grow up should exercise highway rights judiciously.

If there is no room for you on a particular street, you should not be riding there. If you are not smart enough to realize this, the gene pool will soon be rid of your DNA. That's the way life works.

P.S. When I lived in California 1,000 years ago, and a cyclist skimmed up to me on the sidewalk, I used to knock him (it was almost always a Him) down. These days I just yell at them. I have mellowed. Hence the cluttered gene pool, I guess.

calvin | 11.1.11 @ 11:46AM

My dad, who did me the merciful favor of treating me as if I were one of six sons and therefore expendable, and not the only child that I was, used to say that "you have the right of way only when someone agrees to give it to you."
That went through my head years ago when I was run off the road by a kid in a hurry for class. I have not had the desire to ride a bike on the road since. The laws of physics still apply to the environmentally (un)conscious.

Irish22| 11.1.11 @ 12:26AM

Review your physics: Two bicyclists hitting head- on at 15 mph does not add up to 30 mph! Both riders experience a rapid deceleration from 15 to 0 mph.
As to your God-given rights: check them as well. In most states there is no "right" to operate a vehicle. And a bicycle is considered a vehicle, just as a car or truck is.
I personally witnessed a bicyclist as she enforced her rights [from the blind side] against an 18-wheeler. She had the right-of-way, and she died right away.

Mender| 10.31.11 @ 11:23AM

More cycling means:

1) Less pollution
2) Less use of foreign oil
3) Fitter citizens-less money spent on treating heart attacks and obesity
4) Slower and so safer traffic
5) Fewer traffic jams-bikes take up less space than cars unless the cars are full
6) Less need to build car parks in the city centre.
7) Less need to build roads
8) Less need to build and subsidise public transport routes

I live in hilly London and I've seen this happening, very fast, in the last six years or so-a third of all traffic in much of the city centre is by bike now. It's all good.

Slacker| 10.31.11 @ 1:05PM

No it isn’t all good. Not in my city.

We reduce pollution and foreign oil imports.

What exactly is the bike rack on your car for? You idiots drive to cycling destinations. For those of you who bike to work: You show up gross and sweaty. Respect your coworkers and commute like an adult. If you live within biking distance of work you aren’t much of a polluter anyway. Your cycling is nothing more than a metrosexual hobby.

We are fit and healthy.

Baloney. Any sport that requires a helmet it is risky and you idiots are always crashing and blaming it on cars and pedestrians. Why must we pay for pealing you off the asphalt? Besides, we can see right through the spandex -most of you are not athletes -to put it kindly.

Reduce traffic?

Actually you bozos just get in the way. Even though we would like to run you down, the resulting paperwork is a nightmare, so we slow down to avoid bikes. It appears you ingore trafffic signals and stop signs to save energy. This seems contrary to the health and fitness arguement. The sidewalk isn’t’ for bikes either -you disrespectful jerks.

As for the parking thing:

Do you realize how ill-mannered you are being when you crowd the elevator with your stupid damn bike? Dito the hallway. Thank God there are not more of you.

And we subsidize the crap out of you…

Public funds are used to paint your stupid bike lanes, which come to think of it exist solely to make your personal hobby more enjoyable.

EuroTrash| 10.31.11 @ 7:29PM

Slacker,

I have been to your New York and your Chicago and I have seen first hand - these cities exist not without the commerce bicycles provide transportation for.
Have you ever been to these cities? I think it is not likely. The entire world knows American's all have big cars, big trucks, big SUVs and most never travel further than down the road to the supermarket or day care. That only 20% of Americans ever travel beyond North America is a wonderful testimony to the further level of arrogant ignorance some Americans have.

Hahaha.... commuting by bicycle is not a sport, but I think you are not very smart - if you think wearing a drink cooler on your head is serious protection for heavy risk - why do they make cars in America out of so much steel and make you wear seatbelts? America even banned convertibles for awhile, driving cars is so risky. You are a fool - you understand nothing about risk.

Hey - look to LiveLeak and youtube - I see many more Americans getting pried from their cars with Jaws of Life than being peeled from streets. Do you know something about statistics? Because they say you are ill informed, and mis informing others about things you clearly don't know.

Thats' right - tear down your colleagues who try to work out and manage their weight - you obviously prefer for everyone to be fatter, like you, so you don't feel so insecure.

And is it a wonder cyclist ride on sidewalk? You say yourself, you want to run them down. Big man in big car made of big steel against man with only a beer cooler on his head for protection. You are big. Big bad brave bully, wanting to run over bicyclist with your car.

When I bicyclist has to move out of your way, he has to use his muscle, his balance, his dexterity. When you want to speed up, you only have to move your toe. Your perspective is sadly very broken. Or maybe your body is broken and only your toe and hands move.

I heard this about American bikers who are now carrying guns to defend themselves against unusually mean drivers - until now, I could not believe it - but reading what you say, I can see why someone on a bike might want to have a gun to defend themselves against such a big man in his machine of steel who hates vulnerable people on bicycles.

Occam's Tool| 10.31.11 @ 8:18PM

Happy to not defend your worthless useless Eurotrash country with my tax dollars. Happy to see you crushed under yoke of Caliphate, European maggot.

skip| 11.1.11 @ 2:35AM

EuroTrash,

I dare you to ride a bicycle in front of my SUV. With or without the Jaws of Life handy.

Your gratitude for the United States of America defending you from tyranny not once but twice in the last century is touching. The repayment of our financial expense for the military operation itself as well as the rebuilding of your society is long overdue.

Get back to us after you go for a long bike ride in one of your 'no-go' muslim zones. No gun, we can't have any hypocrites.

Pissant.

Chalkdust| 10.31.11 @ 1:11PM

Mender....If you quit your job, would anyone really miss you? If you stopped ridding your tricycle, would anyone really notice?
The "Church of Ride Your Bike Every day and inconvenience Other People and Act Sanctimonious" is a Jim Jones ride-along.

TrueBlue| 10.31.11 @ 2:08PM

When cyclists have to obey traffic laws like motorcycle riders then they can start giving people their sanctimonious crap. But sincee they are the cause of more accidents rather than the other way around, don't require any licensing or formal training (like cars, trucks, and motorcycles do), or get charged for the creation of those stupid bike lanes they can shove it. There are more rules and laws regarding PEDESTRIANS than there are for cyclists for crying out loud.

BlueMonkey| 11.1.11 @ 2:14PM

Cyclists are subject to ALL traffic laws, TrueBlue. You know why? Because bicycles are VEHICLES in the eyes of the law. You should know that.

Foxfier | 11.2.11 @ 1:37AM

That's the law, but it's not enforced. And if you ask a cop about why they aren't enforcing it, they point out that there's no mechanism for it.

James Solbakken | 10.31.11 @ 5:30PM

I think bicycling is a wonderful thing too, but, dummy, it must be under local control and never ever ever ever under federal or United Nations control. Capisce?

Occam's Tool| 10.31.11 @ 8:16PM

Wow. And London is so peaceful and well mannered and everyone is so hopeful there.

Thanks, ENDER.

Louis Jenkins| 10.31.11 @ 8:48AM

I always try to be careful of bikers, never know when one of the many may be a conservative.

Margie| 10.31.11 @ 9:38AM

Ha ha ha!

Mender| 10.31.11 @ 8:45PM

This a photograph of the mayor of London, a member of the Conservative Party.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media.....afp226.jpg

Notice something?

Bill| 10.31.11 @ 9:05AM

"...raising taxes means nothing more draconian than fewer Gurkhas for some anonymous suit in a gleaming office building downtown."

Does he mean "Gurkhas" ("It is better to die than live a coward") or "gherkins" (lunch condiment)?

Rocky Patel| 10.31.11 @ 9:11AM

You will not find pickles in a humidor.

DTOM| 10.31.11 @ 9:27AM

He might have been aiming for "Sherpas" and missed completely.

Robert Pinkerton| 10.31.11 @ 11:45AM

The Gurkhas of Nepal have served honorably as mercenaries for the British Empire for decades. As this, Gurkhas as mercenaries, is so, use of the term here sounds like ironic appropriation to apply it to private guards in office buildings.

Moe Blotz| 10.31.11 @ 12:53PM

Are DTOM and I the only cigar smokers here? See my post a few spaces below this one. Fewer Gurkhas refers to a cigar.

Bill| 10.31.11 @ 1:10PM

Thanks for the enlightenment Moe. I didn't know that a Gurkha is a cigar.

Dick Nome| 10.31.11 @ 1:24PM

I do.

Bill| 11.1.11 @ 8:59AM

Well, smell YOU.

skip| 11.1.11 @ 11:44AM

Moe,

I tend to enjoy The Macallan in the company of Arturo Fuente.

Bill| 11.2.11 @ 3:02PM

I like Macallan whether I'm drinking alone or with somebody else.

Chalkdust| 10.31.11 @ 1:22PM

...nor will you find the answer to the riddle of who funds the 'occupiers".

Dixie Pixie| 10.31.11 @ 9:36AM

No he means Gurkhas as in office “warriors” not the British mercenaries hired from Nepal.

The author implied that the OWS protesters believe, the only thing stopping them from having a life of free luxuries is increased taxes on the Corporations.
The taxes are to be payed for by simply firing a few office workers.

The selfishness of the OWS / Socialist / Liberals in throwing out onto the streets productive workers in favor of supporting themselves is the authors point.

Margie| 10.31.11 @ 10:15AM

It is selfishness indeed, Dixie Pixie.
You've nailed it.
It's the entire basis of the Left.
And they will use the Scripture to try and say so.
They have CREATED their own Social Justice Jesus.
But HE isn't the one in the Bible!

Dixie Pixie| 10.31.11 @ 11:20AM

Greetings Margie
It is always a pleasure to hear from you.

I think I have hit upon the definitive description of the OWS crowd.
“Hell Spawn of the Ruling Class”
What do you think?

Margie| 10.31.11 @ 12:10PM

I think that's quite the flaming good description, Dixie.

Appleby| 10.31.11 @ 11:30AM

I spent some time in Nepal (don't tell my Mama) and it was said of the Ghurka that they could creep up behind you and cut your throat and you wouldn't know it until you tried to turn your head.

What Occupy Mom's Basement needs around here is a whole lot of Ghurka.

Margie| 10.31.11 @ 12:11PM

Occupy Mom's Basement. Good one!

Occam's Tool| 10.31.11 @ 8:20PM

"'Nice sleeping GI. Nice American. Take Care.'

And the Ghurka went off into the night, looking for some German throats to slit."

I forget which textbook I read that in. THE best allied fighters of WWII. Screw the Maori.

Peppermint Tea| 10.31.11 @ 12:20PM

Or "gurken" (pickle)?

Moe Blotz| 10.31.11 @ 9:06AM

If the suits in the gleaming office are smoking Gurkhas, they have already dropped down a few notches from Cohiba.

steve bennett| 10.31.11 @ 9:40AM

I don't want to ban anything but I choose to not ride my bike on public roads--too many blooming idiots driving,texting,applying makeup,etc.

POST American| 10.31.11 @ 10:01AM

----------AHHHH the Rockefeller 'Left' OP !

Almost as inspid as the Rockefeller 'Right' OP.

MEANWHILE,

-----------HUAC meets NUREMBERG 2012----------

--------Tick ----Tick ----Tick ----Tick ----Tick!

Margie| 10.31.11 @ 10:13AM

Sooo. There's the Rockeflla Left, and then there's the Rockefella Right. Hmm.

Are you saying there's an in-between?

Dixie Pixie| 10.31.11 @ 2:08PM

Apparently it goes Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, too.

Dan Mathewson| 10.31.11 @ 5:03PM

Sounds like a boxer.

JimBob7| 10.31.11 @ 2:12PM

Yawn. Broken record, broken record, broken record... (PA)

kit| 10.31.11 @ 10:10AM

Allusions to Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. Nice.

KuroShinzo| 10.31.11 @ 10:15AM

It's not that the liberals don't understand tradeoffs, it's just that they want all that they want, right now, and forever, because it's right and just. You-all are just mean, with your big bank accounts, worker exploitation and stupid thoughts. Well they are going to show you. They are going to get together and protest without any mean ugly organization, and change the world so it's better for everyone except you. While they hold their breath. And stamp their feet. Nyah nyah nyah!

Jack London| 10.31.11 @ 10:20AM

Typical small minded article from a small minded writer – in fact so small minded it's also based on lies GOP lawmakers are putting out about the TE program. If one GOP parrot squawks another one resquawks it in their own petty version of Twitter.

Truth to Power| 10.31.11 @ 10:52AM

Jack is exhibit A for comfortably dumb.

JimBob7| 10.31.11 @ 2:14PM

LOL, great comment, although a bit insulting to lump JL with the dumb; I suspect JL works very hard to be so stupid.

Redstateboy| 10.31.11 @ 12:09PM

Jack... what part of: "we're broke" do you not understand?

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 1:02PM

The part that might effect his welfare check!

George S| 10.31.11 @ 2:00PM

We, The People, in order to form a more perfect bike path...

James Solbakken | 10.31.11 @ 5:35PM

Hey Jack:
Your comments might have more significance if you could SPECIFY exactly what you considered untruthful or misleading about the TE program. Just saying it is empty. So please, I'm dying of curiosity and my mind is open...What "lies?"

Jack London| 10.31.11 @ 6:10PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

Mark in Kansas| 11.19.11 @ 3:33PM

Posting a link to "page not found" does absolutely nothing to convince people that you know what you're talking about.

speedoSanta| 11.21.11 @ 9:14AM

Mark: I read the WaPo article before it disappeared. It gave some background to the snide sound bites used by critics of the expenditures. For example, the "turtle tunnels" are actually culverts under U.S. 27 along the shore of Lake Jackson in Florida. A variety of wildlife, including not only turtles, but beavers, otters, snakes and alligators had been creating a safety hazard because drivers were swerving to avoid them. And the project actually used stimulus, not transportation money, and came in under budget.

Occam's Tool| 10.31.11 @ 8:21PM

"You are only coming through in waves (Jack), your lips move but I can't hear what you say."

skip| 11.1.11 @ 2:43AM

"You're a bitch, girl (Equus Asinus), you can rely on the old man's money, but it won't get you too far"

Renaissance Nerd | 10.31.11 @ 10:21AM

It's easy to be blind and dumb when everything you know fits comfortably into predetermined templates and anything outside one of these templates has to be crammed in pronto! They simply can't see anything 'outside the box,' like the TEA Party. So out comes the 'white=racist' template or 'white=rich/greedy' template and presto! No thinking required.

Petronius| 10.31.11 @ 10:53AM

There used to be a super ignorant jogger who ran down my street every morning at 6 when I left for work. He was about 75 yards in front of me once, padding right down the middle when I tapped my horn to let him know I was there. He flipped me off. So I floored it. He jumped aside as I returned the salute. The cyclosis spandexis is the latest incarnation and collection of self absorbed vessels of ultra rectitude who believe membership in their cohort confers moral superiority upon them. I have no quarrel with courteous cyclists who know how to ride in traffic and observe the right of way of others. But when I see these guys blowing a boulevard stop in my neighborhood doing 30 or better, they shouldn't expect any sympathy when they get flattened by something bigger. There's a grade school on that corner too. Just keep it up. When your blood is on the pavement, you'll realize you don't own it. As to funding closed pathways, that's a matter for local municipalities, not Congress.

fmm| 10.31.11 @ 11:58AM

Love the "cyclosis...." sentence.

As to local funding of closed paths, unfortunately the local governments have the same overspending disease which afflicts congress. In my neighborhood where the housing values have dropped 33% over the last three years, the village "brilliants" have reduced the tax assesments by less than 10% while increasing the tax rate so that their share of the wealth does not decrease. And what do they do with some of that precious larceny? Build a bicycle path of course. Wodiej would be proud.

Margie| 10.31.11 @ 12:14PM

I used to bike ride around New York City when I lived there.
All you need is a conscience.
Petronious is right.

PolishKnight| 10.31.11 @ 11:39AM

I'm not endorsing the thinking of the OWS hippies, but their logic is that if the vast majority of wealth is held by the ultra wealthy, then it should be possible to double federal revenue simply by doubling their taxes and the well-to-do middle and lower class, which they are usually in, won't be severely impacted.

Sadly, the Republican's stalwart defense of not raising taxes including on the wealthy has helped to foster this belief. The more you tell them that they can't go into the shed because there isn't that much gold in there anyway, the more gold they will think is in there.

The fundamental flaw in their thinking isn't that the wealthy are loaded. They may be. Need to run the numbers. The fundamental flaw is that their figures on spending are wrong. For example, they think that if they can just get a 100 million from some ultra wealthy wall streeter, they can build a nice new subway system for Jersey. Then, it turns out that the cost of the system is far higher due to unions, kickbacks, regulations, etc. Look at solar power!

I'm reminded of The Sting where Redford's character steals a fortune from Bernard Shaw and then loses it in a single roll of the roulette wheel. The leftist CULTURE is nothing like Europe where, until recently, they had strong national identities and a consensus on what to do. Here, with diversity both politically and ethnically. The typical leftist, ironically, hates European Americans even as the strive to create a copy of a European socialist state. This self-hatred has spread to Western Europe.

adice| 10.31.11 @ 12:40PM

And what exactly gives you the right to their money?

adice| 10.31.11 @ 12:43PM

Sorry,wrong place.

PolishKnight| 10.31.11 @ 12:56PM

That's a very philosophical question if you think about it. Let's rephrase it: What gives ANY of us a "right" to ANY money? Two things: The ability to EARN it and the law with society defending our right to have it.

In addition, money is an abstract social concept especially with paper money. The ability to transfer wealthy via a simple paper transaction is amazing and provides the opportunity for people to get wealthy by doing nothing to "earn" the money other than ways to cleverly transfer it to themselves.

I'm going to be controversial here and say that the wealthy owe their property rights to society and should pay accordingly. For starters, the more they undermine the few remaining supporters of capitalism that exist by sending their jobs overseas or hopping into bed with leftists to make a quick buck, the faster they will be reminded of that fact.

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 1:00PM

Spoken like a true socialist.

PolishKnight| 10.31.11 @ 2:48PM

A "true" socialist is someone who advocates big government for it's own sake. In addition, I have undermined the socialist love affair with big government by observing that anything short of a full Soviet style state will essentially feed capitalist cronyism rather than stunt it.

But let's consider some of the ways that most conservatives are socialists. For example, honor for the military. Fundamentally, the military are a bunch of government workers who agree to be underpaid out of a sense of personal honor. Since volunteers have often been difficult to find especially in the case of a full out war, the state reserves the right to enslave, er, "draft" young men as cannon fodder and all young men are required to register for that purpose. Even in the case of voluntary enlistees, aren't conservatives cheering on voluntary over-taxation, of a sort, of young men? These same young men that they rely upon later to be reliable conservative voters?

The left may be many things, but they are not politically stupid. They at least have supported their constituencies for the past 50 years while Carly Fiorina and other Republican so-called free market capitalists have sold out their workers for third worlders whom, if they get USA citizenship on H1B's, will vote socialist in a matter of seconds. I honestly think many leftists join the mob if only because they sense that it's winning and the right wing opposition are stupid, corrupt, or naive.

In addition, Sonny Bono passwd an extension to copyright law that extended copyrights for Disney several more decades because Disney, well, just wanted them to be longer. Why not make copyrights perpetual then? The founding fathers themselves proposed a set period of time and then the works would go, eeek, to the public domain! What a bunch of SOCIALISTS!

And yes, the left does have a point that when a wealthy person uses the states infrastructure to either earn wealth, or preserve it, they do owe society something. How about this? Let 'em leave. Let them take their money and go to these third world countries and then set up their businesses there BUT they then have to SELL everything there too. See how many Indian buyers there are for $40 Nike shoes. And good luck to them if they want to take their kids out for shopping in Mumbai and not get kidnapped in a heartbeat. Does it sound like society owes THEM now?

Reality check guys: The days of the USA being the wild, wild west and being able to ignore the rest of the world are over. Thanks to Carly Fiorina and John McCain, they have imported the rest of the world and it's attitudes here. The "free market", in a way, is declaring the USA of 50 years ago dead. It's over folks. We are NOT getting that back. We're going to get something like Brazil or Venezuala if we simply wait and hope for leftism to run out of steam. It won't since the wealthy right are happy to power it for their own short term gains. That alone is an indictment of so-called free market low-taxation capitalism.

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 3:33PM

I see you have been conditioned well by the progs, you wasted quite a lot of characters to say you are fine with being controlled by government, oh well.

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:03AM

And you're making a simplistic "nyah nyah nyah" retort. Ok. Fine.

George S| 10.31.11 @ 2:14PM

What kind of society will it be without wealthy people? The quality of life is directly related to the freedom to exchange labor (wealth). The quality of life has increased for everyone regardless of income because of the industriousness of those who, as a result, went on to become wealthy unrestrained from tyranny. So who exactly owes whom again?

PolishKnight| 10.31.11 @ 2:58PM

GeorgeS, have you ever seen that commercial for directTV with the Russian guy saying "Opulence, I has it?" It's one of my favorite of all time.

The guy is probably portraying a mobster of someone who cut background deals to buy state assets at a fraction of a dollar and then sold them for his profit. His house is probably surrounded by people living in miserable poverty while he chooses different gold busts and a miniature giraffe pet. That's the kind of wealthy person that the left rightly portrays as a social parasite.

Then we have various monopolies. Want to buy a home? Better pay the Realtor(tm) monopoly 5%. Oh, don't want to? Good luck! They hold 95% of the active listings and banks work with them. The banks and politicians have daughters or sons that work as realtors or get huge money so they keep it in place. It's a 5% tax on commerce. They also pushed for the bailouts that are costing US taxpayers 100 billion a quarter.

Like MS windows? Well too bad if you don't. If someone makes a software program for another platform then MS can copy it and just give it away for "free" (with a big upgrade fee of course for stuff that hasn't added any useful functionality for 10 years). So now while hardware functionality, which is open, has soared we're stuck with the same MS crap.

The Wright brothers invented heavier than air flight and lived in a comfortable, but not exceptionally life to the end of their days. Leon Skykorski invented the helicopter and drove a modest Lincoln back and forth to work.

Guys, I don't buy it. I don't trust big government either but that doesn't mean we should worship the wealthy who would be more than happy to embrace big government for their own crony purposes. F' 'em. They certainly don't care about us!

George S| 10.31.11 @ 3:43PM

Then stop buying their products or services.

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:06AM

I need to live in a house GeorgeS and when most software runs on Microsh*t, there isn't much choice there either.

We could just as easily say that if you don't like socialism in the USA, move. Feel free to go to Ethiopia or some South American countries that largely don't offer any socialist benefits...

In any case, trying to downplay the problems of crony capitalism or monopolies by saying "well, just don't buy their stuff and live in a cabin in the woods" is a kind of tacit admission that you're conceding the issue to the socialists. If you want civilization, then you're a socialist. Welcome to the Brave New World!

James Solbakken | 10.31.11 @ 5:43PM

PolishNite:
People who worship the wealthy are stupid. It is not about worshipping them. It is about obeying God and not stealing. If we obey, we will be blessed, if we rebel and fashion a demonic doctrine of theft e.g. marxist socialism, we will suffer the poverty that results because we deserve it for rebelling against economic truth. If you steal nobody has an incentive to continue to create things to be stolen. Stealing only happens after someone has been so foolish as to create something of value. Poor dummies for not realizing they lived under marxism.

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:10AM

How many who worship the Judeo-Christian God work as attorneys who find clever legal ways for them and their clients to steal what they know is not rightfully theirs? To craft 20 page long small print legalese cell phone agreements that almost nobody reads in order to get away with assessing fees for services that the customer didn't order, want, or use?

The problem, James, is that as I hear these moral arguments in defense of protecting the rich at all costs for our own moral survival and to avoid marxism, these same wealthy have no problems selling US down the river in a variety of ways sometimes even by collaborating with the same left that is disingenuously engaging in dogma to get rid of them. Unless we establish a Soviet style state, the cronies will always be around anyway.

Bill| 11.1.11 @ 4:31PM

The proof that the wealthy (or anyone else) lies in what would happen if society/civilization collapsed and we all lived in a state of nature. Then you would see the ultimate expressions of private property. Touch my stuff and die.

Bill| 11.1.11 @ 4:32PM

Add the words "don't have a socially-granted right to property but instead have a natural right to it" after (or anyone else).

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 12:29PM

useless idiots.

Frank| 10.31.11 @ 6:24PM

useless troll.

Ron| 10.31.11 @ 12:46PM

If bicyclists want to start reaping benefits from the gubmint, then let them start paying licensing fees or license plates for their bikes, an air tax for air in their tires, etc....We who drive actual vehicles pay more than enough in gasoline, license plates, insurance, and all of the other sundry taxes to pay for roads and sidewalks that bicyclists use and complain about.

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:15AM

Ron, I disagree. The insurance is to directly cover the risks of costs from damage by the individual driver. None of that money goes to the roads. The gas and registration taxes/fees pay only a fraction of the cost of maintaining the roads.

Indeed, you have a point though: maybe the gas taxes should be directly tied to road maintenance and then we could have a real personal "market" incentive to compare the private automobile to public transit but that would require raising gas taxes... a lot!

BlueMonkey| 11.1.11 @ 2:16PM

First of all, roads are funded with more than gasoline taxes. Property taxes go toward them also. But do you think that bicyclists also don't own cars? I think the number of car-free cyclists in the US is pretty small.

Tom Bruner| 10.31.11 @ 12:56PM

Yesterday I was on one of my regular rides, peddling down a 6% grade at just under 40 mph. There's a driveway where I've had a few close calls, because cyclists are actually invisible, and so was leary of the car edging out into traffic. He missed me by a comfortable margin, compared to some other encounterss, but made it a point to pull up next to me at the inevitable red light at the bottom of the hill to offer an apology, which I accepted. I was in a bicycle lane, well-marked and long established. I was wearing a hi-vis green jersey that you can see with your eyes closed. But I know I'm invisible when I'm on two wheels, and no amount of highway funding will change that. So I am responsible for knowing my route and proceding accordingly.

But try to tell that to many cyclists who will argue that not only do they deserve to ride however they please with no regard for other traffic, but that spending on such things as bike lanes and bike trails are economically stimulative. Everyone is a special interest, and that's great, but let's make a deal; I won't send you the bill for my special interest, and don't you send me the bill for yours.

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 1:28PM

It seems like there is a lot of ignorance on both sides of the road here. I'm also a bit disappointed in Rand Paul, being both a long time supporter of him and his father and a died in the wool libertarian. Nonetheless, a lot of people, including Rand, aren't doing their due diligence / required homework reading. But here's the facts - until 1957, 67% of highway funds came from user fees (those taxes assessed on gas, liceneses, etc.) but since then, this has shrunk to just 50% of the total highway funds. Now, in 2011, the difference is made up by assessing taxes and fees not directly related to highway use - predominately this comes from:
- Sales taxes
- Property Taxes
- General fund appropriations
- Investment income
- US Bonds.

What does this mean? It means anyone in America who gets around WITHOUT A CAR is already subsidizing a significant portion of those who do have cars to keep them on the road. That includes anyone who commutes predominately or only by bicycle.
Then there's another issue, and that's the cost of construction and maintenance of automobile roads vs. bicycle roads - and this is something I have a lot of experience with - laying down an asphalt bicycle roads costs a fraction of the financial cost, manpower, and time associated with building automobile roads. Because bicycles, together with their passengers, often weigh 200-250 pounds compared to 2000 pounds or more a car will weigh with 1/16th of the tread patch coming into contact with the road means the foundations of the bicycle paths don't have to be anything as deep or strong as automobile paths - and the wear and tear on these roads will also be 1/10th or less than what automobile roads have to endure (which actually have to endure weights up to and beyond of Semi-tractor trailers). When you match the amount of cost bicycle riders present for dedicated bicycle paths vs the cost of automobile drivers present for roads exclusively reserved for bicycles - and compare this to revenue collected from each - it doesn't match. I mean, it really doesn't match - the dedicated bicycle rider - ends up paying - via sales and property taxes - for more than his fair share of bicycle roads, including paying for auto roads - while the automobile driver doesn't even cover his / her own cost associated with using the roads - even when calculating taxes paid both in terms of fuel taxes, auto-license taxes, property taxes and sales taxes.

Even still, for the sake of argument, even if you remove bicycle riders and all their cost from the equation of 'who pays for the roads' - auto drivers are only paying about 50% of their fair share via fuel taxes, license fees, etc.

BTW - all this information is publicly available from the US GAO, the IRS, and the FHWA. I know most Americans are pretty bad at math, but if you force yourself to work through the numbers, you'll start to have an enlightened understanding of exactly how the Federal Government is fleecing everyone and how some certain groups have continued to exist on the backs of others purely through continually perpetuated myths (not unlike the myth that your road usage is fully covered from the taxes collected against your gas and annual auto inspection fees, et al.)

Slacker| 10.31.11 @ 2:14PM

I think your analysis is flawed. Roads support commerce. Bike paths are for recreation.

Someone without a car indirectly uses roads. Someone without a bike has no use whatsoever for a bike lane.

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:28AM

I commute into work via bike to support the telecommunications industry which allows you to make phone calls. I do this without using gasoline and also free up space on the road.

Americans really, really love cars and view European style public transit and bikes as wussy, but for those of us who have gone there, it's like paradise. You can take the train or tram and be in the downtown of most cities in less than a half hour. Everyone LOOKS better than here (part of recreation.) Indeed, America is becoming the land of the fat American sitting in their cars for an hour back and forth to work and then watching TV when they get home. How awful! Recreation and MOVEMENT!!!

BlueMonkey| 11.1.11 @ 2:19PM

I live in an area with a nice Rail-to-Trail. Since it's been done, businesses along the trail have seen a dramatic increase in business. Businesses that have seen fit to provide bike parking even more so. People come from all over the country to ride on the Withlacoochee Trail, and I would think it's the same with trails all over the country.

BlueMonkey| 11.1.11 @ 2:19PM

I live in an area with a nice Rail-to-Trail. Since it's been done, businesses along the trail have seen a dramatic increase in business. Businesses that have seen fit to provide bike parking even more so. People come from all over the country to ride on the Withlacoochee Trail, and I would think it's the same with trails all over the country.

James Solbakken | 10.31.11 @ 5:46PM

Everyone who is not employed in the private sector is sponging off of those who do.

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:23AM

Does this include soldiers in combat? It's a valid question and not merely provocative.

speedoSanta| 11.3.11 @ 9:34PM

Good job, InfoWarrior. Don't forget to quickly wash the blood off that jawbone--it's really difficult to remove once it's dried.

Nina| 10.31.11 @ 1:33PM

Holy Crap! Off topic....or what? I get what he says about the biking but it seems to be above your heads that this article is more about the "hidden" costs....turtle tunnels? Really? Do you think the turtles actually use said tunnel? or frogs, or snakes? The states and local towns should be the ones undertaking this issue, not the federal government. Road and bridge repairs should be the first consideration instead of spending $$ on bike paths and signs. Priorities....!

Nina| 10.31.11 @ 1:37PM

Sorry would also like to add that a lot of cyclists (and pedestrians) are not very considerate themselves, meaning they think they own the road and will not move! I like to walk and I like to ride my bike as well, but I'm very aware of what's going on around me, ie cars! And people who are not aware that truck drivers sometimes do not have a clear view of ground level are idiots! Do you really think they can see that well behind them as well as on the sides? Anyone know any truck drivers? Yeah, yeah, biking is good for your health, the enviroment, blah, blah, blah, but if you're going to bike to wherever, use your heads with some common sense might be a little better than actually having to have a whole lane devoted to just bikes! I'd rather my tax money be used to fix the numerous dangerous, falling down bridges in my state than to fund a bike path as much as I'd enjoy it.

George S| 10.31.11 @ 1:55PM

How about... federal license plates for bicycles? Of course, there will be a healthy fee attached to go towards bike paths and turtle awareness seminars to help them avoid bicycles.

Most cyclists are rich (ever see the cost of those two-wheel road pizza makers?) so it is only fair they pay their fair share.

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 4:19PM

Slacker: Your understanding what bikes are used for is way, way, way too shallow and probably a result of a very narrow world view. Bikes are used for all sorts of commerce - perhaps not in your neck of the woods, but I can cite all sorts of examples in the USA and to a much, much larger extent, the rest of the world, where bikes are used for commerce. Your logic - a person without a car indirectly benefits from roads (and thus, the insinuation that they should pay for it directly in the form of taxes) lends itself very well to several like mind arguments that you should pay for my healthcare - because you benefit from me building the roads you're driving on, and ensuring I have healthcare enables commerce. That's broken logic and a fallacy, not very unlike the Broken Window fallacy.
http://freedomkeys.com/window.htm

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 5:10PM

Ha, I'll bet you are a gorebull warming backer too.

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 5:20PM

nohussein: Don't go to Vegas on that bet, you'll lose a lot of money.

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 5:52PM

Hussein or Paul backer for sure.

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 4:19PM

Slacker: Your understanding what bikes are used for is way, way, way too shallow and probably a result of a very narrow world view. Bikes are used for all sorts of commerce - perhaps not in your neck of the woods, but I can cite all sorts of examples in the USA and to a much, much larger extent, the rest of the world, where bikes are used for commerce. Your logic - a person without a car indirectly benefits from roads (and thus, the insinuation that they should pay for it directly in the form of taxes) lends itself very well to several like mind arguments that you should pay for my healthcare - because you benefit from me building the roads you're driving on, and ensuring I have healthcare enables commerce. That's broken logic and a fallacy, not very unlike the Broken Window fallacy.
http://freedomkeys.com/window.htm

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 4:26PM

@George: Yeah, my 72 year old grandmother, who cycles from Somerset Kentucky to Science Hill every day on a narrow two lane road, and who collects just over 11,000 annually in her pension and can't afford the upkeep of a car, is rolling in the dough. Yeah, let's stick it to the millionaire cyclists in Hope, Arkansas, hauling their watermelon's to market. Yeah, let's stick it to them and their rusty pizza cutters.

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 4:50PM

@Slacker: you really need to spend some time researching the numbers - you aren't subsidizing anything for the bikers - rather, those that don't drive a car are subsidizing you. It sounds like you need a serious education on how taxes for roadworks are collected from what revenue sources. The information is out there, it's been published by your government for years - but it's clear you haven't looked at any of it.

For instance, how much do you think it costs to build a dedicated asphalt paved bicycle path? Various cities around the USA have implemented entire city-wide bicycle infrastructure, including hundreds of miles of dedicated paths, dedicated bicycle traffic lights and signs - for the same price as ONE MILE of 4 LANE HIGHWAY (that's around 40-60 million dollars).

IF YOU DO THE MATH... you'll quickly see that those miles of dedicated bicycle path (which btw, gets the bicycles out of auto road ways) can at any given time, be transporting simultaneously tens of thousands of biking commuters - while 1 mile of 4 lane highway can only simultaneously carry a few hundred commuters.

Meanwhile, rebuilding a SINGLE automobile bridge will cost on average around 150-250 million dollars.

But finally, if you really think a few hundred spent annual on bicycle paths (btw, you do realize dedicated bicycle paths last on average 10 times longer than automobile roads before repairs are needed? A 200 pound bicyclist causes almost no wear on an asphalt road - the same cannot be said for a 2 ton car or a 10 ton truck) is the ultimate Federal Government spending cut - let me direct your attention to Iraq - where we flush on average of 700+ million A DAY down the toilet in Federal spending.

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 5:11PM

you're killing me, hahahehehehe...

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 5:15PM

I just got back from a 300+ mile hunting trip, provitions, fire wood, guns, ammo, etc.... should i have ruben a bike, BWAHAHAHEHEHEH....

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 5:16PM

ridden.....

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 5:53PM

No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm not sure where you even get that - I'm not calling for everyone to bike. That would be absurd.

However, I don't understand why some people think it's okay to tax EVERYONE, for the special interest benefits of just a subset of the population, leaving the interests of the other half of the population out in the cold.

Slacker argued that roads benefits commerce. Yes, but not wholly. And that commerce does benefit some, does not benefit absolutely everyone. I would argue that if it benefits commerce, let commerce pay for it. Wholly. Why should the American public have to be taxed to pay for roads that private commerce is using and benefiting from?

If recreational auto drivers want to use the road, they shouldn't be allowed to plunder the tax revenue of people who don't drive or travel by car, or commerce who needs to ship large quantities of goods via heavy trucks.

And private commerce shouldn't be subsidizing roads for people who like to spend half of their lives on perpetual road trips. Or gypsies / traveling nomads who live out of their cars / RVs and avoid paying property taxes (which funds 25% of all federally subsidized roads)

And the same goes for bicyclist - bicycle roads shouldn't be built from tax money collected for auto roads. And roads shouldn't be built for cars from money collected from people who never drive cars, but travel by bicycle or walk.

And Pedestrians shouldn't be getting sidewalks built with revenue that's collected to build roads. (I never hear about any calls for pedestrians to be licensed to walk on sidewalks - which I agree, would be absurd - but by that same logic, is also why I think bicyclists being licensed is absurd. Those who disagree, I would challenge to explain the original concept of automobile licensing to me - don't go on what you think the reason is - look it up in the history books - you might learn something)

Unfortunately, we don't have that level of separation in our government - we have something very different. And on top of that, we have a myth believed to be true by many people who only ever drive - that they alone pay for the majority or all of the roads in America. They don't - that's a myth propagated by our government over the years, so that people would agree to accepting more and more taxes over the years.

In fact, if you assume that roads are paid for predominately or only by your taxes assessed on your cars, fuel, licenses, etc - you probably might also assume that the environmental taxes assessed on your fuel - are directed by the government to be spent on environmental protections - but they absolutely do not.

The reality is, all those taxes only cover just about 50% of all roads built and maintained. The rest of it comes from the much larger population that includes both drivers and non-drivers.

If you consider the very real fact that all the roads are paid by just 50% of those who use the roads in the forms of user fees, with the reminder being paid directly by people who do not use them or directly benefit from them - that itself is a system of plunder. Auto drivers plunder non-auto driver's tax revenue for the special interests of auto drivers.

That said - why is it anymore or less fair for the special interests of bicyclists to 'plunder' the very revenues they contribute to, for a fraction of what they put into it, to get something back out for what they put into it?

The answer is, it's not fair, nor is it just. The reality is, if the non-driving public were no longer subsidizing American highways through property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, etc - I'm sure only a very short time would pass before auto drivers would quickly be trying to get non-driving public to start riding their bikes on auto roads in exchange for some of that missing revenue.

But for the record, yes, I've ridden 150+ miles per day out through the west Texas countryside, guns and provisions in my saddle bags of my ATB, and lived off the land for weeks at a time up in and around Cloudcroft/Alamogordo , NM.

I've also driven cattle on horseback nearly that same distance from Brownwood, Texas - yet no-one shouted obscenities at me when I was blocking farm roads with the cattle drive we were part of - yet people are not so nice when I'm was not blocking, but just using my bike on the side of the road - several feet away from any traffic.

I even took a blow to my skull from some yahoo who thought it'd be funny to throw a full beer can at me. Why? Answer: people are ridiculously ignorant. Sadly, some choose for this.

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 6:19PM

A lot of characters to say you embrace socialism, nice stories but you blew your cover when you posted communist countries are the way America will end up.

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 6:22PM

The VAT tax sends a tingle up your spin does it?

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 6:22PM

...spine...

Dollface| 10.31.11 @ 7:13PM

Gas taxes pay for roads. If you don't buy gas, you don't pay.

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 7:44PM

Dollface: No, it doesn't. Again, there's lots of information and facts published out there to dispute that myth. You don't have to Google very hard for this info in fact.

http://reason.com/archives/201.....nt_2346512

@nohussein: it looks like you're 'replying' to my comment, but the content of your reply doesn't seem to fit and am wondering if you're actually replying to someone else. I don't embrace socialism - far from it, I would prefer to chuck the socialist state America has become - but I also recognize America has progressed down that path and am drawing attention to how ironically unfair the socialist approach is.

But I'm also starting to think, viewing all your comments on this thread, you think everyone else but yourself(?) is a commie? You sure like to throw that word around, rather liberally.

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 7:45PM

Dollface: Better use this link: http://reason.com/archives/201.....sportation

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 7:50PM

And more....
"User fees only account for about 60% of highway spending by all levels of government. The rest comes from non-users and in 1990, non-highway users subsidized roads at the rate of $18 billion per year. -Source: Highway Statistics 1990, "
http://www.trainweb.org/moksra.....nsport.htm

Slacker| 10.31.11 @ 7:27PM

I don’t know what to say. You are very insane. Bike commerce is for third world peasants.

I don’t really care how much it costs to build a dedicated asphalt bike path because the entire premise that bikes are realistic commuting vehicles is a lie. Cheap is no bargin when the product is useless.

Biking for recreation is at least amusing. Suggesting we bike for commercial activity is nuts.

What you don’t’ get is there is no non-driving public nor tens of thousands of people who want to ride with you. How many people would choose to travel around like Sub-Saharan African villagers?

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 8:00PM

"Bike commerce is for third world peasants."

There was a day I once thought this, like you - but then I woke up and opened my eyes and realized there were hundreds of people already commuting by bicycle before I ever began (and I only began this decade.) I even cycled while living in Houston 20 miles a day, along with several other colleagues. I used to sit in 3 hours of traffic every day on the way home before I started cycling - which reduced my commute to just under an hour.

The idea that cycling is for third world peasants isn't a lie, it's denial. Useless is spending 2-3 hours every day in a car on the way to work in stand still traffic and doing it again at the end of the day back out to the burbs. By bicycle, I cut that down to 45 minutes and have that extra time to spend with my family.

Again - I used to be like you. I didn't think there was a non-driving public - then I realized I was in denial. I never saw them when I was in my car, but every day I now ride with them and meet up with my "regulars" who are also commuting by bike. On average, on my route every day, I see at least one hundred or more fellow commuters on bike, usually closer to two or three hundred on sunny days.

Occam's Tool| 10.31.11 @ 8:24PM

Come to Northern Minnesota and cycle in 40 below, pal.

InfoWarrior| 10.31.11 @ 8:44PM

Occam's Tool: Come on, if you want to challenge me - make it challenging. Already do that buddy. Biking in deep snow is one of my favorite past times - it's like a cross between snow skiing and jet skiing. I even have a special bike setup now just for this. :)

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:39AM

One of my favorite films is Fargo and I was watching it last month and shivering as I saw the scenes with the deep snow everywhere. I felt cold even after the TV was off.

EuroTrash| 10.31.11 @ 8:35PM

Hei Slacker, You don't seem to actually know much about the world, do you?

Perhaps you have heard of my little tiny country - you should - my country has more financial investments in America than Japan or Germany combined, or even China. Even still, our entire economy is in large part based on bicycles used for commerce, but our standard of living is better than most places in the USA. I let you study and see if you can learn what country I am speaking of. If you want to think we are full of third world peasants - that's okay - we still financially own America's ass. But I understand, there's a lot of American ass to go around. hahahahahah

Then there's, another little tiny country who's entire economy is largely dependent on bicyclists, and again, they are considered to have a better standard of living than the USA. Maybe you know it - Denmark?

All Danish female bikers look like supermodels - not like African America girls who drive everywhere and who's asses expand to fill their never-ending Cadillac seats. See for your self:

http://www.copenhagenize.com/

Soon, the American dollar is going to crash - and when it crashes, it'll take the Euro too, with it. The difference between America and Europe is most people in Europe still ride bicycles, for fun and for work. In America, most people don't even know how to ride a bike - and when the dollar has no value to buy gassoline with, we see who laughs about riding bicycles, okay? I will see Slacker riding on a bicycle, I will remind you what you say about bicyclists like sub-saharan african villager. hhahahaha

Do you ever ask yourself why are Americans so fat and dying from obesity and heart attacks, where Europeans still smoke and do not die as often from these diseases like Americans do? I give you hint - it's not our cars! hahahahaha

idalily| 11.2.11 @ 7:40PM

What an appropriate user name you have.

Pat| 10.31.11 @ 5:33PM

California, as an official “friend of the Democrats” and the adopted home state of President Obama is under attack by the feds. There’s hardly a quarter mile stretch of our roads that hasn’t been recently resurfaced, re-graded, re-landscaped or had a tasteful sign erected thanking our president for the generous Stimulus Funds - and this funding includes bike paths built along the roadways’ sides but not those “special bike paths” through our many “wilderness and park areas” which comes from a different federal slush fund. Our highway contractors are in the Democratic Party version of hog heaven. Not only is the state’s gasoline tax money exclusively earmarked for road construction and pouring into their accounts receivable, but federal money as well. If you can currently afford a vacation costing more than a trip to your local bowling alley, then come out to California and drive on our recently repaved roads – or, rather, on your recently repaved roads since you probably helped pay for them.

Now you might wonder why a state boasting such a mild climate needs so many of its roads repaved - whether they need repaving or not. We have no freezing rain or sub-zero temps to generate those famous pot holes, so why all the road work? Actually, that’s a question many California motorists ponder while waiting for the helpful flagman to gesture them forward into the construction zone. We simply assume other states must love to shower money on our roads, although some less than charitable folks believe it’s because California is a bright blue, Democratic voting state – our last two registered Republican voters moved themselves, their families and their businesses to Nevada three years ago so there could be something to that cynical opinion.

Bruce Dejane| 10.31.11 @ 5:39PM

Hmm, fewer Gurkhas. Neat, but not widely understandable.

Augusta| 10.31.11 @ 6:08PM

Just because something is 'nice' doesn't mean it's a vital public responsibility you yuppie twits. Petition your own local areas and hit up your own neighbors to pay for your silly luxuries, not the Federal gov't. In case you haven't notices, we're going broke paying for this kind of trivial nonsense. You progs will always find some urgent cause or crisis to justify it - but it's always a complete fairy tale.

EuroTrash| 10.31.11 @ 6:58PM

Hahahaha..... you crazy American's are so easily distracted from what matters - you all act like this money is a big amount of money. These arguments above are all so stupid - you all act like the donkey who follows that carrot on your cartoon shows - you are so focused on the carrot, you don't realize you are standing in the middle of a farm pasture with lots of food all at your feet (or more appropriately in this case, that the lava from a nearby volcano is rapidly racing towards you and about to surround and engulf your feet and kill you).

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/699/look-out-below

It will cost $1,600,000,000,000.00 USD for America to fix road infrastructure issues - and everyone's looking to cut bicycles which amount to a few million?

To make it easy to see - Mr. Paul is proposing to cut 10 cents from your budget of 100,000.00 and expecting a real difference to be seen. Great, now you'll have 10 cents to spend, but you'll still need to come up with $100,000.00 USD.

The real solution is painfully obvious: the only clear solution is to double taxes on cars and fuel consumption - pay for what you use, like the rest of the world!!!

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 7:08PM

How is that working for the rest of the world, commie?

EuroTrash| 10.31.11 @ 9:04PM

Hussein: Me thinks you are too much confused. My country is not communist - in fact, my country was a Constitutional Republic about 300+ years before America's 1776. We still remember what Constitutional Republic means - I think does your country? No, I think not. Not with the Patriot act and 7 unconstitutional wars, spying on American people, I think America does not, but smells like an emerging fascist state. How's that working for you, Fascist? We don't like it. We don't like when your State Dept officials come over to us and tell us to be more fascist like America is becoming. It is sad. America has lost herself, and Americans don't care. Sad, sad sad.

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:37AM

Eurotrash may be a troll, but I'll bite. 7 unconstitutional wars? I would say that Korea, Vietnam, and Libya probably qualify since they weren't voted on as such by congress, but I don't buy the leftist claim that Iraq is an "illegal" war because of a "lie" (a "lie" that Clinton himself also claimed years before Bush). Heck, most wars have lots of lies in them anyway. Politicians lie? Who would have thought! :-)

The Patriot Act. I agree, I love the Orwellian or propagandistic naming. Then again, the left has used such Orwellian games for years. Gender "equality" in Western Europe is where women work fewer years than men, live longer, and retire earlier lest, gasp, a woman might be working while her husband is retired. Hilarious.

Jim Cap| 10.31.11 @ 6:51PM

LOL, David.

I'm glad. Finally a conservative who admits that there ARE "limits to resources". That there isn't a "Constantly Growing Pie" and that resources ARE a Zero Sum Game!

It's about time. I'm going to cite your---otherwise obtuse and poorly written---column as a good rebuttal in the future to my conservative friends who insist that we can ALL be rich entrepreneurs if we just thought differently and "worked harder". Thanks!

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 7:09PM

Not too bright , are you.

Dollface| 10.31.11 @ 7:10PM

A couple of years ago, the State of Missouri spent several million dollars on a dedicated bike lane for the Heart of America Bridge over the Missouri River complete with concrete barriers to keep the cars from the bicyclists. Since the bike lane opened 2 years ago, I've seen one bicyclist on the bridge and he was in one of the lanes dedicated to cars. That money could've been better spent elsewhere. But bicyclists are PC.

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 7:11PM

"Pork" I believe.

nohussein| 10.31.11 @ 7:11PM

The constitution states we have the right to" the pursuit of happiness", think about it!

PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 11:38AM

Nohussein, I'm not sure if you're saying that as a joke or are genuinely mistaken: It's the declaration of independence that says that.

Jim Hlavac | 10.31.11 @ 10:16PM

Dear Mr. Catron, remember your object lesson of this article the next time this magazine supports Rick Santorum's and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council's demands for all us gay folks to be rounded up and arrested: the police state that would be required -- the billions spent in incarcerating us, forever, for we won't change -- the billions in lost economic activity from our removal from society -- all because this magazine still can't handle gay folks. It's a bizarre leap into economic fantasy far beyond bike paths, I do declare. Think carefully, for you all are supporting this bizarre idea that you all will turn gay the minute a nice thing is said about us -- and if you don't think these two are related -- the weird leftist call for public expenditure for nothing -- and the weird rightist call for public expenditure for nothing -- you all are sadly mistaken. Come to a different conclusion on gay folks other than "arrest them all" and you might save billions!

tonypal| 10.31.11 @ 11:12PM

Jim, I think I speak for all the people here at TAS when I say thank you for one of the most devastating parodies ever posted on these pages. Rounding up gay folks, right wingers going through some sort of transmogrification at the mere suggestion of normalcy on the part of our gay brethren. If you would have dropped in a line about conservatives encouraging their young children to bully gay little tykes on the playground, the TAS spoofometer would have exploded.

POST American| 10.31.11 @ 10:54PM

---------Rockefeller 'LEFT'
-------------Rockefeller 'RIGHT'

---The coming NUREMBERG
---will bring it all to light---

----------HUAC meets NUREMBERG 2012----------

Bill| 11.1.11 @ 9:01AM

What do you think will happen when HUAC meets NUREMBERG?

"Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Nazi Party?"

Augie| 11.1.11 @ 2:10AM

"Our lips are moving, but they can't hear what we're saying." - that describes it pretty well. I've noticed this for a long time. I understand what the Left is saying pretty well, not that it makes much sense, but still I understand the craziness and its origins in good detail. I can also discern very clearly that they DON'T understand us. This applies from the lowliest blog comment troll (nice to see you here Alan Brooks), all the way up to their elite commentators and even their philosophers (ever read John Rawls?). There is a blindness, as though a rational part of the brain was knocked out, and its function taken over by some reactive part of the limbic system.

There are exceptions of course, but those are the entirely cynical advocates, who have thrown in their lot with the Left for some deeply personal reason, often, I suspect, related to one of the 7 deadly sins.

Recovery is possible, but fairly rare. Sometimes a cynic will experience a "road to Damascus" moment, and lose his cynicism. Other times the latent reason of a sleeper will be awakened by some life event, or a particularly telling public occurrence. The sleep walkers of the Left were often led into the mists by their education, and by education, even if not formal, can be led out. All the more reason to re-assert control over the institutions of education.

The Left will always be with us, as invincible ignorance will always be a dominant factor in the lives of some. It can be reduced to impotence however, and can be denied the numbers and the offices of influence needed to rule us.

Sonny119| 11.1.11 @ 4:36AM

Good article.. because it's true..

CalMark| 11.2.11 @ 9:14PM

All you holier-than-thou bicyclists (or whatever the politically-correct term for you idiots is):

Loads of 4-lane roads have been turned into 2-lane roads to install bike paths. Apart from the traffic snarls, it's dangerous for automobiles to turn right, because you're crossing into a bike lane.

A very busy Chicago street was once transformed this way, without warning. I was moving to turn right. Some bicycle-weenie came up from behind me, out of nowhere, zipping along much faster than auto traffic (slowed and bottlenecked due to...you guessed it, the bike lanes) slammed his foot into my fender, and started screaming profanities: "This is a bike lane! Jerk! [Insert more profanities here.]"

How noble. How thoughtful. How utterly charming. If I could have run him down without legal consequences, I would have done so with a clear conscience.

And don't tell me about how traffic snarls due to bike lane installation is healthy and wonderful because it increases people's motivation to use "more responsible" modes of transport (i.e., whatever the Left is pushing this month). It means congestion and danger.

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