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Friday, June 24, 2005

The Bicycling Century?

Al Franken of Air America Radio has lately boasted about his bicycle commuting exploits. (which amounts to stating rather nonchalantly that he biked in to work at the AAR Manhattan studios; whether he does it regularly or not, I didn't hear)

The Oil Drum has included in its quoteroll:
"A third of humanity doesn't want to ride bikes anymore; that has profound geopolitical implications."
-- Anne Korin, the co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (May 1, 2005)
For context, H.G. Wells, one hundred years earlier, apparently said this:
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.

Al Franken mischievously pronounced the 1980's, "The Al Franken Decade". HG Wells forecast 20th century society so accurately that he has been dubbed 'the man who invented tomorrow'. Was the Wells' quote just an observation or a Nostradamus-like prediction for a 21st century lifestyle? If Franken runs for Senator of Minnesota in two years, I predict we will see him campaigning on his bicycle quite a bit (a gimmick certainly on a par with late senator Wellstone's green bus and Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak's X-C skiing exploits). No joke, Al learned from the excesses of "The Al Franken Decade", knows how to promote himself, and may ride that lifestyle to the bank.

4 Comments:

Professor Blogger JMS said...

More on Anne Korin, from my grumpy perspective:


http://peake.blogspot.com/2005/04/six-degrees-of-gary-bauer.html

12:13 PM  
Professor Blogger @whut said...

A part time spook?

4:26 PM  
Professor Blogger JMS said...

Not exactly - though there are plenty of people in the org with ties to intelligence, maybe she is one of them -

I think it is more that Anne Korin, and everyone who works at Set America Free are using intelligence techniques to advance their agenda.

mostly running MSM types like T Friedman. "it is time for your lobotomy sir"

9:12 PM  
Professor Blogger Prof. Goose said...

damn. and it was such a good quote...

but it may have to come down.

10:48 PM  

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