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Bike-hire schemes part of ‘a UN conspiracy’
US Republican candidate claims bike schemes like London's are designed to restrict personal freedoms
Could Boris Johnson's newly-launched London bike-share scheme be part of a global conspiracy designed to restrict personal freedoms and increase the power of the United Nations?
That appears to be the view of American politician Dan Maes, a member of the Sarah Palin-endorsed Tea Party, and front-runner to become the Republican candidate in Denver's gubernatorial election.
Maes has taken umbrage with a similar bike-share scheme to London's, which operates in Denver, claiming it is "converting Denver into a United Nations community".
His beef is with the excitingly-named International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, which promotes sustainable development and green transport, and counts Denver and the Greater London Authority among its 1,200 members.
But Maes believes that the organisation has a more sinister aim, which is to persuade communities to sign up to UN-endorsed agreements. "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," claimed Maes.
According to the Denver Post he told a rally that the plan was "very well-disguised, but it will be exposed".
Maes said that the current mayor of Denver's efforts to promote cycling - and presumably those of London mayor Boris Johnson as well - appeared harmless and well-meaning. But he warned: "That's exactly the attitude they want you to have. This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms."
Maes went on: "These aren't just warm, fuzzy ideas from the mayor. These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations programme."
Approached by The First Post, neither Transport for London nor the Mayor of London were prepared to comment on Maes's views. ·
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Is the USA for real? Real people I presume must have elected this "person". No wonder BP get persecuted before the full facts are known, no wonder anyone outside of the USA is thought of as sub human by them. The USA wonders why everyone hates them, why everyone wants to blow them up---now you know with people like this [ and president obarmy] in charge.
This is comedy gold, you couldn't make this stuff up. Although China seems to control its population and there are a hell of a lot of bikes there, coincidence???? I think we should look into this :)
This should be in the humour section, I found it extremely funny. Mr Maes may be looking for a second job in comedy.
The Tea Party movement is Suffragettes meets David Icke.
You couldn't make it up, could you? And this is the USA to which Britain is always genuflecting? This whackjob Maes is clearly a bigoted loony.
Thanks for finding this - it's priceless. Perhaps it should go in a Weird World section?
On a more serious note, he's correct in thinking that a bike hire system run by local government reduces the opportunity to make money out of people. Presumably he'd have a heart attack if he knew about all the people giving bikes and other good stuff away for nothing on Freecycle!