wee Al's turn

Getting further away from the bike here, but..
Yes, good point, Gore didn't even win Tennessee.
I, and most Canadians, were surprised 2000 was even close, let alone go republican.
Canadians like Al and Tipper.

CitiZen

Left, lefter, leftist.

Alcyon

From what I understand of the US Heathcare system, it is mostly based on insurance companies, correct? When people complain about their HMOs their talking about their insurance providers who use unscrupulous techniques to keep their costs low and profits high, even though healthcare is still incredibly lucrative. Right?

Personally, I am torn about our HC (healthcare) system. I think the idea of a socialist (commie) healthcare system is great-I think everyone deserves the right to have HC. However, I dislike the government's control of the HC system-it must be unionized and etc. and definitely not privatized. I believe privatized clinics are an option for those who have the money, but they should not be the norm. Waiting lists are much too long, and no government seems to have the will to do anything about it. More funding is always good, and I think the Liberals were justified in cutting costs by dropping out of missile defence (Who gives a c*** about Canada? All it would do is give the US an excuse to annihalate you), however, they need to rewrite the budget as they are still spending too much on certain things (mainly their embezzled Chryslers).

dfw

I have no doubt Bush is a poser, that's not to say that Kerry didn't have his moments also, but practically everything about Bush is fake. He poses as a Texan, but he was born and educated in New England. He poses as a rancher, but he bought his ranch in 1999 and still doesn't know one end of a cow from the other. He poses as a conservative, well you get the idea...

cyclezealot

Alcon...Example my rotor cuff tear...Happened like March 7..Surgery was not until June 30...Arm useless the whole while..I will be forever weakened by this wait....My wife..Ovarian cancer...Our GP would not give us a referral from July to November...all the while it was spreading...
Our doctor said it came within micro meters of being invasive...From November to February was the wait for the correct specialist...Surgery in early March..FOR CANCER...You have that kind of wait. ? Is your wait similiar to that...? and we can't sue...Far less tissue would have been removed if our GP would have given us a referral soon after the lesions started to spread...
A French friend was visiting us from Lille, france when I had my shoulder tear...She said a friend had shoulder surgery for a similiar incident... She said he had an MRI a little over a week later..following the accident. Surgery about two weeks after the accident.
Alacon...Our HMO's are referred to as gatekeepers...About 25% of American insurace dollars go to support advertising of Giant HMO's (for others, but we call it cherry picking...They only want patients who are healthy...) and for Insurance companies profits....another major cost...To process claims...In Medicare for seniors the cost of administration is only like 2%....
Those Insurance companies CEO pay can be in the tens of millions of dollars..
a friend of mine, had a bike accident...side hit a stone...broken ribs...that accident cost over $100,000.....would not ride, if I did not have insurance....

Raiyn

Well the link was posted in post #16.......Quoted below

Bizikleto

I thought that the Political Compass was some kind of official anonymous survey for statistical purposes only, held in the U.S. but now I see that it has a broader scope and that it was devised in the UK. Thanks for the info and directions. I scored: Economic Left/Right: -5.00, Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.46. When I assessed my scores differently for the European / U.S. environments, I obviously was playing with a ready-made mould of preconcepts. I let myself be dragged away by these. Sorry about that.

sswartzl

Politically I'm fairly conservative, but that has absolutely nothing to do with why I commute. I commute because I really, really like to ride, and commuting gives me a way to ride 23 miles per day without having to shoehorn it into my schedule.

cyclezealot

I do not believe in labels..Labels are used to categorize and hide issues so we close off our minds to real debate about issues..We should not categorize our thoughts but open and criticize our basic premises...
Do you let your perceptions interfere with reality?
I think a more appropriate question might be are bike commuters more environmental aware?

cyclezealot

Just said I do not believe in labels...Don't ..but finally took the Political compass test...
Economics= -9.25; Social.= -6.00, so i am labeled.

Raiyn

Wow you're even more of a pinko than me. Nicely done

cajonezzz

Hang left. Lean Right.

cyclezealot

Raiyn...Like to argue issues and not just get labeled...Economics...My wife and I both have retirement funds ransacked by Enron..Some time in our futures...To the tune of about $300 a month...Doubt the lawyers will ever retrive those billions from the Cayman Islands. ....Economics. ..Not rigid ideology....Just pragmatic...
Some one has to guard the chicken coop from the wolves.
we used to live in Florida...that is where some of our retirement funds originate...even back then..Locals would say the state is run by 'good old boys.' or I say, crooks...Fla. is where from Enron did a number on us...but, at least Not 100% loss as did stiffs in Texas.

Raiyn

You of course realize that I was kidding right?

roadfix

I have a confession to make: I listen to Hannity.... 3 hours a day.

catatonic

little of both....but I think closer to the conservative side.

Raiyn

Don't guess. Take the test.

cyclezealot

I tend to think we think we can label ourselves and end our search for the truth...A test I would like to see administered..
Someone who is a rigid ideologue..Take the test...Then , if you could..Demand someone who you think to be your truth god/goddess of the media..(Or my talking head).Also take the test... Their daily BS is just that...Emotional zingers to obfuscate real news...
It would be interesting to see how much you really have in common with your sacred news sources. Kill your television..Its goal is to dumb you down.

SecretSatellite

took the test. while it was interestin ghow it tried to get around the left/ right dichotomy it still didn't address political stances outside western model. while anarchism was represented and used as a synonym for libertarian some of the questions wouldn't allow for this worldview as anarchist opinion ususally falls outside accepted norms. theres been a lot of posts about peak oil but does it at all inform anyones bicycle lifestyle or other lifestyle choices?

lilHinault

Oh flippin' wonderful, I come out on the test as mildly Authoritarian Left.

There's not much meaning to conservative, liberal, left, right, anymore. Not when you have part of the Green Party against immigration, when the "Conservatives" laud the Founding Fathers who were basically classic liberals, etc.

I want to see someone come up with a more meaningful political scale to grade people on than Left, Right, Liberal, Conservative, because those words have become meaningless.

Sawtooth

Economics: Conservative
Social Programs: Liberal
Moral/religous issues: Conservative

Monument Man

I'm a right wing libertarian type. Basically this means I want less government, fewer taxes, and I am really left on most social issues (gun control, abortion, drugs, etc)

skanking biker

I have to admit that I too am a die-hard libertarian. I'm a fair weather commuter who does so not out of being "anti-car' but because it saves me $ on gas (and the exorbitant taxes incorporated into the price of gas), forces me to exercise, and because I love being outdoors. So go ahead, call me selfish and a myriad of other names....I still road my bike 15 miles into work today.

azesty

Left libertarian, almost on top of the Dali Lama on the examples.

a

skanking biker

A true libertarian would not be in favor of gun control---libertarians want minimal government control in both the social and economic sphere.

On that note, i've noticed that the term libertarian is thrown around loosely on this forum. To me libertarian means Ayn Rand. Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises types. Anyone in favor of restrictions on the free market or intrusion into our social lives (where the behavior does not take away another's life liberty or property) is not a "libertarian." Libertarians are neither right nor left is the traditional sense.