Commuting by bike is against the Constitution

[OakLeaf]

He has a pair of bike shorts at the bottom of his underwear drawer, and sniffs the chamois when no one else is home.

@ Owlie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTBnqsLP5a0

I didn't know it either - but song lyrics are one of the things I don't hesitate to google. Kind of a cool song.

[Bike Chick]

Bwaaaa ha ha ha ha...............

[MommyBird]

You all are missing his point. He has nothing against promoting bike friendly policies. In fact he is all for them. He has an issue with ceding American sovereignty to an international organization. Any time a country signs on to a treaty they agree to give up some of their right to self-government. That is what makes it unconstitutional.

This article is written in a deceptive manner to make Mr. Maes look kooky and anti-bike but if you read his own words without the biased reporters spin you get a different picture.

"At first, I thought, 'Gosh, public transportation, what's wrong with that, and what's wrong with people parking their cars and riding their bikes? And what's wrong with incentives for green cars?' But if you do your homework and research, you realize ICLEI is part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty," Maes said.

International treaties, like this one, include policies that are often very harmless on the surface. Unfortunately, biased journalists love to make the party who will not sign them look evil for wanting to thwart the so called good work when the underlying reason for not signing is because the party realizes how important it is to hold on to and respect America's sovereignty at all costs. Many of the policies within treaties trample on the freedoms we value as Americans. The good policies in these seemingly harmless treaties can easily be adopted without sliding down the slippery slope of ceding ones national sovereignty.

On this issue we should be thanking Mr Maes for protecting our liberties instead of demonizing him.

[KnottedYet]

ICLEI is not a treaty.

ICLEI does not cede any sovereignty in any way, shape, or form.

Half of the ridiculousness of Mr. Maes' paranoid fantasy is that he doesn't even understand what ICLEI is.

http://www.iclei.org/

"ICLEI provides technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level. Our basic premise is that locally designed initiatives can provide an effective and cost-efficient way to achieve local, national, and global sustainability objectives."

I will mock him, because he is xenophobic and paranoid and sees increased bicycle usage as "reining in" Americans' freedoms.

If someone from my city planning department wants to get free information from a Copenhagen city planner through ICLEI on how to design better bike lanes, I'm all for it.

At some point every nation has to grow up and realize there are more people in this world than just itself. We can either become part of the larger world, or we can spin into a paranoid tight little ball and implode into something like Kim Jong Il or explode into something like what started WWII. Targeting ICLEI and bicycle infrastructure education and information as a sign of impending doom is paranoia.

[OakLeaf]

But it's true that underlying most of this is a strong feeling that it is Americans' "God"-given right to take every resource from every country, live with the greatest perversity we can imagine, and destroy the earth for all of its denizens including ourselves.

Really, I hear it in nearly those words all the time. Maes is neither unique nor new.

[7rider]

ICLEI is not a treaty.

ICLEI does not cede any sovereignty in any way, shape, or form.

Half of the ridiculousness of Mr. Maes' paranoid fantasy is that he doesn't even understand what ICLEI is.

http://www.iclei.org/

"ICLEI provides technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level. Our basic premise is that locally designed initiatives can provide an effective and cost-efficient way to achieve local, national, and global sustainability objectives."

As one of the commenters to the article stated;

It's designed to share best practices. Everybody panic!

[Tri Girl]

Maes is not protecting my liberties, because they are not being threatened. Agreeing to work together to change our resource-devouring ways does not cede American sovereignty. It's being responsible and creating solutions so that we can still have a planet on which to practice our American sovereignty.
His line of thinking is odd (at best) and at worst he's igniting fear in people that we're somehow going to lose all our freedom because we are in agreement with other cities/nations to reduce our carbon footprint and find sustainable alternatives. Insanity!

[PamNY]

The NY Times had something to say about Mr. Maes. The comments in this group are more incisive and funnier, though.

[malkin]

It's nice to know that the stupidest politicians are not all in my state.

[Crankin]

Thank you all for stating the ridiculousness of Maes' position in a coherent and polite way.
I really don't understand how a person could think that the U.S. "gives up sovereignty" when it joins an international delegation, to help solve a pressing world issue like sustainable resources. G-d forbid we *collaborate.* Why are people so afraid that we might *gasp* become a little more like the rest of the world?
Yea, xenophobia is a good word.
Like I said before, there's a reason I live where I live...

[Trek420]

G-d forbid we *collaborate.* Why are people so afraid that we might *gasp* become a little more like the rest of the world?

First bikes and next thing you know we'll be *gasp* playing soccer!

[channlluv]

But God forbid we ever call it football.


Roxy

[Crankin]

Oh no! Both of my kids played soccer and one even became a bike racer.

[Catrin]

hmmmm, I was considered a black sheep and rebel in my youth - guess that my cycling means that I am STILL a rebel

[jessmarimba]

This guy is now promising to lay off at least 4,000 people if he gets elected.

1) There are a bunch of people who will now NOT VOTE FOR YOU for fear of losing their jobs, and

2) He won't even have the power to do that if he DOES get elected.

*sigh* this is going to be an interesting election.