How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:10 pm Post subject: Flanders wages war against SUVs
1. The Flemish government has just brought justice to SUV owners. They used to write their SUV off as a "light truck", knowing that for "light trucks" there are tax breaks.
Now the government has issued a decree which says that SUVs are ordinary cars. The extra income for the government is estimated at a yearly $5 million (not much, but we're a micro-state).
Rumor has it that we're also going to penalise inefficient gas-guzzling cars in general (with an extra tax).
2. SUVs were banned from many Flemish city centres recently, because most accidents in city centres in which pedestrians are involved happen to happen with SUVs. (There's a sociological correlation between aggressive driving and SUV ownership). Of course, they're also banned because they pollute the urban air.
3. Finally, in cities where they haven't been banned yet, there are anti-SUV-terrorists operating, deflating all SUV-tires around. This is a pan-European deflaters organisation, operating in France and the Netherlands too. (A recent poll shows that ordinary people like this kind of terrorism). The police doesn't intervene, which is good.
So how's the war against the SUV going in the US and elsewhere?
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:37 pm Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
When I saw the subject, I immediately thought of that dorky neighbor in The Simpsons, and how funny it would be to have a Simpsons episode where that guy went to war on SUVs. Though it wasn't what I had expected, it was a great article. _________________ "If humans don't control their numbers, nature will." -Pimentel
"There is not enough trash to go around for everyone," said Banrel, one of the participants in the cattle massacre.
"George W. Bush loves poor people. He keeps making more of them." -unkn
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:17 pm Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
Ah yes, lets blame 1 type of vehicle for all the worlds pollution and consumption woes.
Fortunately, the war on SUV's is going well here. We dont have one.
Apparently its because our war on stupidity is more effective. _________________ "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the
Abyss, the Abyss gazes also into you."
Ammo at a gunfight is like bubblegum in grade school: If you havent brought enough for everyone, you're in trouble
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:42 pm Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
The next SUV to ever knock me off my bike and flee will get their tires shot out with the 9mm, windows smashed, and the driver pulled out and beaten savagely with my bare hands. Being struck by a vehicle on a bicycle is not fun. _________________ The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the old growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder. ~Thomas Jefferson
Joined: Nov 24, 2004 Posts: 75 Location: West Lafayette, IN U.S.A.
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:32 pm Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
I'm with you, Toecutter. I've had 2 incidents with SUV's while on my bike this year. One nearly ran over my head after knocking me and my bike down, and they never stopped. (I don't even think they realized they hit anything.) The other pushed on my back tire with their front bumper and ran me off the road into a pile of debris on the sidewalk for trash pick-up. (Glass in there cut up my bike tires.)
I realize that slamming SUV drivers has been done to the point of cliche, but I don't have these problems with people driving other types of motor vehicles. The blue-collars and farmers in their trucks are very careful of me, most cars ignore me, but the SUVs love to *ZOOM* past, or try and edge me "out of the way", nevermind that I'm in a clearly marked bike lane.
I'm not a gun nut (nor am I opposed to them), but I am definitely at the end of my patience for this sort of asinine behavior. Didn't their mothers ever teach them better?!
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 9:29 pm Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
I'm suprised about the last two posts here. I did not think any drivers would knock down cyclists. I already aggree thats it's too dangerous to ride a bike on the road with even light to medium traffic.
Joined: Jan 09, 2005 Posts: 683 Location: Turku, Finland
Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 9:50 pm Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
dukat wrote:
I'm suprised about the last two posts here. I did not think any drivers would knock down cyclists. I already aggree thats it's too dangerous to ride a bike on the road with even light to medium traffic.
Going on those 2 posts maybe letting down tyres is legitimate self-defence. Preemptive strikes being in vogue these days.
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 12:52 am Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
mgibbons19 wrote:
Better to just have a gas tax and let the consumer make their own choices.
The problem is that some people would still afford the lumbering behemoths, even when draconian measures are put in place (case in point, my country, Romania, which has an engine displacement tax in place; this did nothing to reduce the niumber of 2.5, 2.7 and 3 litre-engined vehicles on the road). Also, a lot of people would complain that a mpg tax will be unfair for the 'gasoline crowd' (by contrast with the 'diesel people') and 'poorer people with older cars' (though I personally think that if you're poor, you shouldn't drive a car).
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:50 am Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
TommyJefferson wrote:
lorenzo wrote:
The police doesn't intervene, which is good.
I wouldn't call that "good" for any country.
Flemish police sound like South African, Iraqi, or Bolivian police.
A corrupt and lawless civil service is one ofthe hallmarks of a failing society.
Oh dear, the UK must be failing then The UK Government has decreed that the 40+ UK maonland police forces must combine to as few as 12 forces.
The Forces were given until today to respond with outline plans of preferred mergers. Most have failed to meet the deadline, with only 13 forces showing any interest in merging at all.
Isn't it nice to know that these civil servants that work for the government that works for us (the people) are sticking their heels in the ground & basically refusing to comply with a lawful decree from their bosses !!!!! _________________ The roller coaster is still climbing, but it's near the top now !
Where there's a WAR there's a WAY
Joined: Oct 12, 2004 Posts: 983 Location: Giant Pickup Truck Country
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:37 am Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
Falconoffury wrote:
When I saw the subject, I immediately thought of that dorky neighbor in The Simpsons, and how funny it would be to have a Simpsons episode where that guy went to war on SUVs. Though it wasn't what I had expected, it was a great article.
That's the image I got too. Ned, Rod, and Todd sneaking over at night to slash the tires on Marge's Canyonero. _________________ The knowledge to survive post peak will not come from our laboratories. It will come from our museums.
Joined: Mar 29, 2005 Posts: 266 Location: Maryland
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:14 am Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
I saw 2 BIG SUVs battling it out on the road the other day. The one guy was trying to cut in on the right and the smaller SUV would not let him in. The big one just kept coming over and the little guy was heading towards ongoing traffic so he hit the brakes hard!
Of course they both rushed to get to the next red light.
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:19 am Post subject: Re: Flanders wages war against SUVs
The_Toecutter wrote:
The next SUV to ever knock me off my bike and flee will get their tires shot out with the 9mm, windows smashed, and the driver pulled out and beaten savagely with my bare hands. Being struck by a vehicle on a bicycle is not fun.
Well, get the F*** out of the way, and don't wear those ghey Jester suits that you bike Nazis are so found of!
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The UK Government has decreed that the 40+ UK maonland police forces must combine to as few as 12 forces.
