BIKE: AAS

[Michael Bluejay]

On Mar 30, 2004, at 2:04 PM, Jeremy Elliott wrote:

>  I was amazed to read someone trying to argue
> that the AAS is remotely right-wing or pandering to
> big-money, big corporate, bad-guy stuff. At the risk
> of ending a sentence in a preposition, it made me
> realize just how far off the mark some people on this
> list really are.


Fine, have fun living in a fantasy world.  The AAS has a long, long, 
history of developer-boosting, enviro-bashing, and sloppy reporting.  
That you suggest that anyone who notices this is "far off the mark" has 
to be the most ironic thing I've heard all year.

Maybe I should cut you some slack, considering you probably have never 
been interviewed by the Statesman (I have) and seen them print the 
opposite of what you say (yep), had them intentionally lie about your 
friends (ditto here), or review their coverage for fairness and 
accuracy (ditto again).  But I won't, because not only are the 
Statesman's misdeeds frequent, flagrant, and a matter of public record, 
the fact that you've decided that anyone who believes the obvious is 
actually incompetent deserves a rebuke.

Yes, the Statesman recently printed a pro-bicycling article.  
Whoop-de-do.  You announce this as though you've made some sort of 
point.  Their printing of an occasional pro-biking article does not 
absolve them of years of gross misdeeds.  I don't let them off the hook 
for their crimes simply because they run a pro-bike article, but 
apparently that's all it takes to make them appear saintly in your 
eyes.  I'm sure the AAS is very appreciative of how easily its 
readership is swayed.

Given the choice between sloppy, hurtful reporting balanced by the 
occasional pro-biking article, vs. proper reporting but without any 
cycling boosterism, I'll take the proper reporting without boosterism 
any day.

As for the article, of course they list as a resource a site a year out 
of date and filled with dead links (BikeToWork.com), while completely 
missing the obvious (BicycleAustin.info, AustinCycling.org), or even 
BicycleSafe.com.

An extremely brief rundown of some of the Statesman's misdeeds:

	http://BicycleAustin.info/media.html

Also, one of my favorite Statesman tips for how to save the 
environment:  "Do not buy products made from endangered species."

-MBJ-

P.S.  You ended your sentence with a verb, not a preposition.

P.P.S.  Yet again, the simple address for this list is:  
forum