Free Republic

Now we know who's in charge of Minneapolis streets. It's a loosely organized group of serial lawbreakers called Critical Mass. Last Friday, 600 or so took over city thoroughfares, breaking traffic laws with impunity while police stayed in the background. Every month, Critical Mass cyclists ride through rush hour traffic in cities across the country. Some insist the ride is just a "celebration." Others acknowledge a political agenda: they want to enlighten the rest of us -- greedy capitalists that we are -- about the joys of bike riding so we can join them in saving the planet. The Mass...

Driver and riders accuse each other of provoking the fight - A Friday clash between a Berkeley minivan and Critical Mass bicyclists continued to generate conflict Monday as the van driver said the bicyclists placed bicycles under his front tire during the violent melee. "A certain number of the bicyclists were prepared to do this with malice aforethought," said Harlan Head, 70, driver of the Chevrolet minivan. "They shoved bicycles under the car and attempted several other things." Critical Mass organizer Jason Meggs, 38, who filmed part of the incident (see video) on his digital camera, called Head's accusation "outrageously...

BERKELEY -- An angry confrontation erupted during Friday night's Critical Mass bike ride in Berkeley when cyclists accused a motorist of trying to run them over, a participant who videotaped part of the fracas said today. The incident, similar to an altercation that occurred during a Critical Mass in San Francisco in March, occurred about 8 p.m. as dozens of cyclists rode through the intersection of The Alameda and Monterey Avenue, said bicycle activist Jason Meggs. Tempers flared on both sides and the motorist's windshield was shattered and a wiper bent, but Berkeley police did not make any arrests, Meggs...

The political influence of San Francisco's pro-bike movement has risen steadily over the past decade to the point where the chief advocate for cyclists sits on a powerful city commission and elected officials rarely tell them no. It's a long way from the early days, when bike enthusiasts could barely get city officials to return their calls. But a series of attention-grabbing street protests that started 15 years ago in the form of the monthly Critical Mass rides, which attract hundreds to thousands of cyclists, put bike interests in full public view. Elected officials took notice. "We've achieved a lot....

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has a lot riding on the next Critical Mass bike free-for-all, with the basic question being whether he can control the city's streets come Friday night. Newsom has ruled out any attempt to stop the rush-hour ride, contain its route or keep cyclists from their mass running of red lights. Instead, police will beef up the number of cops monitoring the monthly ride to 40 officers on bicycles, Hondas and Harleys. That's about twice as many as rode along with last month's ride. Cmdr. Stephen Tacchini, who will be in charge of the police force...

Shattered window of family car wasn't only encounter -- limo had harrowing clash, too - Make of it as you will, but there was another ugly confrontation during the last Critical Mass ride in San Francisco, not just the one involving a Redwood City family celebrating a birthday in Japantown. Motorists and bike riders alike have been up in arms since our yarn Wednesday about bicyclists shattering the back window of a car that had unwittingly found itself in the middle of a pedaling Critical Mass pack. Motorists were outraged over the conduct of the cyclists; the riders insist they...

It was supposed to be a birthday night out for the kids in San Francisco, but instead turned into a Critical Mass horror show -- complete with a pummeled car, a smashed rear window and little children screaming in terror. The spontaneous Critical Mass bike rides, in which thousands of free-spirited cyclists roam the city, have been a fixture on the last Friday night of the month since the early 1990s. But even bike-weary cops, who have seen their share of traffic disturbances and minor skirmishes, weren't prepared for what happened during the latest exercise of pedal power. Here's the...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Hacker attacks on Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh OS X operating system, thought by many who use the Mac to be virtually immune to attack, are on the rise, according to a report from anti-virus software vendor Symantec Corp.

Hundreds of bicyclists are getting ready to swarm the streets of Manhattan again Friday night and police say they are ready. The environmental activist group Critical Mass plans to hold another one of its monthly bike rides Friday night by Union Square. There are so many riders that they literally take control away from cars. It's intended to promote an environmentally friendly transportation system and an alternative to cars. Last month's ride came in the midst of the Republican Convention. Two hundred and sixty-four people were arrested and some had their bikes confiscated. Police are warning that it could happen...

August 26, 2004 -- The "Bike National Convention" may have just had its tires slashed. The NYPD yesterday announced a crackdown on a group that promotes monthly mass bike rides and has promised traffic-disrupting events during the GOP convention. The group, Time's Up, founded the so-called "critical mass" rides on the last Friday of each month. The crackdown was spurred by Time's Up's planned Bike National Convention, timed to coincide with the Republican gala. On Tuesday, the riders evoked Paul Revere's famous ride, with bicyclists chanting, "The Republicans are coming!" along Lexington Avenue. A police source said that caught the...

NOTE: I did not write this diatribe, I will voice out in the "afterward". This weekend lots of folks are gonna be tearin' it up in NYC at the Republican National Convention, showing not only the country, but the rest of the world that not all of us are "united" behind the Bush administration and their "War on Terror." "Bring the war home," went a slogan for the Weather Underground. Similarly, Fugazi said, "There will be two wars." As long as the power elite wages war abroad, we will inevitably feel the effects at home: immigration restriction, and hightened racism,...

Universities must wait one year before making changes UT considers race-based college admissions policy AUSTIN (AP) — Ethnic diversity at the University of Texas at Austin remains low more than a decade after four white students filed a lawsuit against the nation's largest university, setting off the demise of affirmative action in Texas. The university is considering a new admissions policy that would include race as a factor in selecting students in an effort to boost minority enrollment — a move allowed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003. "We've seen significant improvement in diversity on campus, but I...

Supreme Court rules in favor of U. of Michigan Admissions Policy