Wow. Good thread.

I have no beef against brakeless, and most of the time I ride "as if" I were brakeless (mostly backpedaling and the occasional skip stop when going at low speeds), but I'm VERY MUCH for having a brake. My front brake already saved my ass last week, when I had a short lapse of attention, went to cross an intersection assuming i was in the clear, and ALMOST got my ass ran over by a car that seemed to come out of thin air. If I hadn't squeezed on that front brake lever I would've gotten owned... and I would have totally been at fault.

I'm not saying having a brake is an excuse to ride recklessly. I'm just saying that as a human, I'm bound to make the occasional mistake when I ride and I'm happy to have my front brake as a lifeline for those occasions.