A different look at the helmet debate: was cycling links -

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 14:47:35 -0600, "Edward Dolan"
wrote in message :

How the hell could a helmet law deter cycling?
Ask any Australian. Or New Zealander.
They must all be very faint hearted souls living down under.

When Nanny State stands there shouting BIKE DANGER!!! and pretending
that riding a bike brings a substantial risk of serious head injury,
it is hardly a surprise when large numbers of people get scared off.

Conversely, in countries like Denmark and the Netherlands where Nanny
State has set about actually making cycling safer, for example by
legislating priority for cyclists and pedestrians, and having presumed
fault when they are hit by drivers, it is hardly surprising that many
more people take up this harmless and beneficial form of transport.

One of my big complaints about Liddites is that they apparently view
one of the world's most common forms of transport as some kind of
extreme sport.

Agreed!

--
Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 14:59:11 -0600, "Edward Dolan"
wrote in message :

Guy Chapman does not want to muss up his hair. That is why he does not
wear
a helmet.

If you are so insecure about your views that you cannot justify them
without raising ludicrous straw men, it is surely your problem not
mine.

The straw man is quite real as I have known many cyclists who have told me
that they do not like to wear helmets because it musses up their hair.

For what it's worth, helmets have no more effect than any other kind
of hat on a grade 3 buzz-cut.

We used to call those kind of haircuts here in the Middle West heinies or
butch haircuts. The problem with those kind of haircuts is that you have to
have a pretty good shaped head in order to get away with it. Most of us
can't do it. Our heads are just not shapely enough.

--
Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...
$kip wrote:

I took a quick look at your web site and the photos I saw of you riding
all showed you wearing a helmet. Your children were wearing helmets
too. So my question would be if you are convinced helmuts are of no
value why do you bother with them? You may have already answered this
question and I missed it. I rarely read helmet threads and when I do I
don't read them carefully.

It has been proven that reading too many h*lm*t threads can cause brain
damage.

Tom, I think you right about this. Guy Chapman is driving me bonkers with
his pontifications on the subject. I swear to God, I am never going to
post another message on the subject of helmets again as long as I live.

--
Best Regards,

Ed Dolan the Crazed - Minnesota



Please keep in mind you should always misspell helmut (or use asterisks as
Tom has done) in your postings to keep the helment googlers away.

skip

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 15:35:56 -0600, "Edward Dolan"
wrote in message :

I see I have reduced Guy Chapman to the status of Slugger - just a pitiful
stalker who only knows how to sputter.

That is because you have reduced yourself to the status of slug,
creeping with glacial slowness over the face of Usenet and leaving a
nauseating trail of slime behind you.

You are tracking me, not I you.

--
Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 19:43:01 -0600, "Edward Dolan"
wrote:

She is a woman who does not want to muss up her hair when she rides her
bike.

And you are the weakest link. Goodbye.

Guy Chapman does not want to muss up his hair. That is why he does not
wear a helmet.

There is friend of mine who is exactly like him. His hair always looks
like he just stepped out of the barber shop. Hells Bells! I haven't been
to a barber shop in almost 45 years. When the price of a haircut went over
$1.00, I said that's it. **** haircuts and **** the g.d. barbers. I have
been cutting my own hair ever since and I have never once in my life given
a good g.d. what my hair looked like. But that is because I am a man and
not a pansy-man like Guy Chapman.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota


Ed, is there any way possible to get you to post a recent photo of yourself?
I need to see this.

You could attach it to a regular post - don't worry about it being an
improper thing to do. I will pay any fines levied by the authority having
jurisdiction.

skip

"DiscoDuck" wrote in message
om...
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...
Man, this had made me laugh harder and hard each time I read it.
Politicians are not experts. They don't even listen to true experts.
They listen to people, who tell them what they want to hear.
They aren't leaders-they are followers - much like yourself.

Politicians are experts at politics (power brokers) and at legislation
(passing laws). If you do not think this is true, run for office sometime
yourself and see how far you get.

But you stated they are experts at biking, and biking statistics.
They are not. To suggest that they are experts at everything because
they pass laws is nothing short of asinine.

They will hold hearings and bring their judgment to bear. I want them to do
this and not assholes like you. They have judgment - you don't.

Also, tune into C-Span and take in some
congressional hearings and debates and you will be impressed by how
knowledgeable they are.

I have, and they are not experts. They merely regurgitate things they
WANT you to believe. It seems to work on you.

They will hold hearings and bring their judgment to bear. I want them to do
this and not assholes like you. They have judgment - you don't.

The thing that strikes me about politicians is how much smarter they are
then everyone else, most especially the journalists who interview them
and
appear down right stupid in comparison. American politicians tend to be
lawyers which is not a bad thing. Lawyers know how to debate issues and
how
to check one another.

Unlike you. You seem unable to stick to the issue, not admit you are
wrong. In Canada, there were approx 78 head injuries last year
related to cycling. This, out of millions and millions of incidents
of cycling that had no injuries. YET you support a law that mandates
helmet use.

We learn from the accidents and from what goes wrong. We learn nothing from
what goes right.

AND you refuse to admit that helmets would save drivers of motor
vehicles. You're not even consistent.

Cars and bicycles are completely different from one another requiring
different standards of safety.

Politicians are the true superstars of America, not
the Hollywood and athletic scum and the assorted trash people you see on
TV.

This is getting funnier and funnier. Are you a TV writer? You should
be. I do believe you are just "putting us on".

This guy, DiscoDuck, probably thinks Michael Moore is a major intellect of
our time, intead of the fat treasonous pig with no brian that he is.

Most politicians do not care about "the people". They care about
"Appearing to care for the people". The truth is they are self
serving and look for issues to justify their jobs.

The politicians do not do what you want them to do and so you characterize
them like you do. But you are on the losing side and those of us who like
what the politicians do characterize them in opposite terms than you do.

IF they were truly "experts" and cared, they would lobby for helmets
for cars far sooner than for bicycles. More money and lives would be
saved. But I bet you deny that, too.

Cars and bicycles are completely different from one another requiring
different standards of safety.

--
Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

DiscoDuck wrote:
...
Using a pseudonym is not lying.
There is no reason to believe you are using your real name. IF you
are, what is your address and phone # and I will call you to confirm?...

There is enough information in his signature line to find Mr. Dolan's
home address and phone number using any number of Internet phone
directories.

I will personally use this information to increase my chances of
AVOIDING contact with Mr. Dolan in real life.

--
Tom Sherman - Rock Island County Illinois
Tetrahedral carbon lattices are not forever.

"DiscoDuck" wrote in message
m...
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

Things really change when laws are passed and 99% of folks obey those
laws -
even if you don't.

Well then you would hate BC where approx only 20% of cyclists obey the
helmet law. Yet they live.

I have stated in a previous post that my main objection to the laws are that
they are not enforced. I think Canada has become a third rate country and
that the US no longer needs to take seriously anything that goes on in that
benighted nation. A nation that does not enforce it's laws is beneath
contempt. The US is not exempt from this criticism of course, most
especially regarding the enforcement of the laws against illegal immigrants.

--
Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

"DiscoDuck" wrote in message
om...
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...
"DiscoDuck" wrote in message
om...
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

If and when the safety experts determine that helmets are a worthwhile
safety device to be worn in cars and our legislators mandate it by
law,
then
it will be my PLEASURE to obey that law. Unlike you, I do not have to
make
up my own mind

You read it here, folks. He doesn't ahve to make up his own mind. He
blindly (and ignorantly) follows the sheep.

Anyone who thinks he has to make up his own mind on every subject under
the
sun is frankly just too stupid for me to waste any time on.

Every subject? No. Some yes. YOu obvioulsy made up your mind too on
this issue otherwsie you wouldn't be agruing with us.

"If and when the safety experts determine that helmets are a worthwhile
safety device to be worn in cars and our legislators mandate it by law, then
it will be my PLEASURE to obey that law. Unlike you, I do not have to
make up my own mind."

--
Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

"DiscoDuck" wrote in message
om...
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

I have provided plenty of substance in the above message for you to
comment
on. Do not get sidetrack by the names I have for you as there are plenty
more where those came from.

Ooooh, scary man (assuming you are one). I've addressed every one of
your points in previous posts.

No, you just blathered on about names, but who the hell knows what any of us
are talking about at this point since you have not included enough of the
previous posts.

Why not post under your name instead of that ridiculous moniker? I wonder
who is lying when they hide behind a false name.

Using a pseudonym is not lying.
There is no reason to believe you are using your real name. IF you
are, what is your address and phone # and I will call you to confirm?

The reason I do not post under my real name is because control freaks
like you. IF you support laws that remove a person's freedom of
choice, and refuse to admit when you are wrong who knows what kinds of
acts you are capable of? It's people like you that commit assaults
because of your control issues. Although I for one would welcome it,
so I could make you wear a helmet, then see how well you fare.

I have been on this newsgroup for a couple of years now and everyone here
knows me to be a cantankerous son of a bitch, but not a criminal. You were
the one to make threats against me, not the reverse. All I do is call you a
jackass and an asshole which is exactly what you are.

Do you have kids? If so, do you beat them when they do not "obey"
you?

But at the end of the day, we all know (AND YOU KNOW this too), that
the reason you behave this way is because you cannot admit you are
wrong-another symptom of control issues.

Me wrong? You have got to be kidding! I am NEVER wrong about anything. I am
Ed Dolan the Great and I sit at the right hand of God Almighty.

You stated you accept the "experts" and that you do not need to make
up your own mind. That confession in of itself shows the level of
intelligence you hold.

You are an uneducated slob. The world is full of your types. That is the
main thing that is wrong with American Democracy. In the old European
Aristocracies, you would have been confined to the lumpen proletariat where
you belong and no one would ever have heard of you. The fact is that I am a
European Aristocrat at heart. It is types like you that make me despair of
democracy.

--
Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota