Malcolm, Gary

Craig,

There are those who love rules and those who love freedom.

It's not crazy to dislike railings on the Grand Canyon, neighborhood
enforced lawn mowing, pasteurized fruit juice or stop signs in the middle of
nowhere. You have just grown jaded to the ever creeping "rule of law" into
places where society has no business. Occasionally you can expect some of us
to chafe under the harness of your comfortable wardens. I'm sure there's no
harm in ignoring us while you "click-it or ticket". You are completely
correct in the supposition that voicing our disgust at the North Plains
traffic stop serves no purpose, especially in our current environment.

Aaron brought up the straw-man SS argument... but I can smell a brown shirt
just as easily as the next guy.

Now, back to bike racing...

Gary Malcolm

_____

From: Craig Austin [mailto:austinc@exponent.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 12:06 PM
To: Aaron Coker; obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] The behavior of North Plains Police

Gosh, Aaron, you mean you don't think a citation for breaking a law that you
know exists, and has existed for decades, is an "extreme act of gov't"?

Yeah, me neither. I don't think you're the crazy one in this conversation,
Aaron. There have been quite a few acts of the current administration that I
would call "extreme," but I'm not sure a ticket for running a stop sign is
one of them. I'm pretty sure that law was on the books pre-9/11.

It's very hard for we the cycling community to maintain any credibility at
all when we spout off stuff like this. We sound like a bunch of prima donnas
who want "equal treatment" only when it suits us, and "special treatment"
the rest of the time. We want cars to give us plenty of room and want
drivers to live with the inconvenience of having us on the road, but we
don't want to be bound by the traffic laws. We talk the big talk about how
bikes can coexist and actually reduce traffic in congested areas, then we
stage a Critical Mass, where we purposely go out and clog traffic. Like it
or not, this is the image we have in the minds of many in the non-cycling,
and particularly law enforcement, communities. If we were responsible, we'd
be reminding each other that running stop signs is just as illegal as it is
in cars, and as public road users we should respect the traffic laws. I
don't stop at every stop sign while riding, but if I get caught running one,
it's not the fault of the police.

Craig

_____

From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org on behalf of Aaron Coker
Sent: Tue 7/10/2007 11:38 AM
To: obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] The behavior of North Plains Police

Let me see if I understand this. So you are saying that the SS, who ran the
concentration camps during WWII and were responsible for the deaths of 6
million Jews, is akin to the Police Chief in North Plains, OR citing a
cyclist for running a stop sign. Call me crazy, but I guess I'm just having
a hard time making that connection.

-Aaron Coker

Edward Kendrick Sr wrote:
Ben Franklin described our gov't as a republic, if we can keep it. All of
us
should keep watch over this, because it's so easy to loose.

In this post 911 world, where we have become desensitized to the extreme
acts
of gov't, comparisons to traumatic historical events are very appropriate.

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