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Car Free Days - A Good Way To Fish For Good Transportation by Mar’a Camila Morales submitted: 2000-02-20 Pedicab Drivers Sue Governor Sutiyoso for Operating Ban by A. Rahman Paul BARTER submitted: 2000-02-20 Website Covers Car-Free Day Actions Worldwide by Eric Britton submitted: 2000-02-20 Evolution of a BAD Show Topic for Oprah by Biker-X submitted: 2000-02-12 Italy Bans Cars For One Day In 150 City Centres by Loris Tissino submitted: 2000-02-11 Oprah Wondering if Bicyclists Are Endangering Safety of Motorists! by Brian List submitted: 2000-02-09 Bike Commuting: A Better Way to Travel by Paul Dorn submitted: 2000-02-03 Art Students' Polar Bike Gives New Meaning To 'extreme Cycling' by Byron Spice submitted: 2000-02-01 Drivers Who Kill Could Be Investigated For Murder by Stewart Tendler submitted: 2000-02-01 NYC Mayor Responds To Spike In Cycling Deaths by Kristen Fountain submitted: 2000-01-18 |
Evolution of a BAD Show Topic for Oprah [11 February 2000] Biker-X [NOTE: the Oprah link has been removed by her site. But this is so painstakingly researched, I thought I'd post it. Anyway, I LOVE a good conspiracy theory once in a while! -miles] Let's play connect-the-dots . . . You're puzzled about Oprah actually baiting cyclists, when she should be lauding them for contributing to more friendly, safer, less polluted, less congested cities. http://www.oprah.com/tows/intheworks/tows_works_bike.html Notwithstanding the lucrative show sponsors of auto ads and gas commercials, why take this angle over the standard Oprah fare such as "Trans-Species Northwest Militia Sex Workers Under Attack from the ASPCA", or "Ingrown Toenails: Supermodels Confess All"? Here are some of the dots: 1995 - San Francisco elects a new Emperor, a master at wheeling-and-dealing, backroom deals, and Limo riding 1997, July - A certain egotistical San Francisco Mayor gets a thumbs down from city cyclists, and orders police to arrest over 100 of them for the crime of...biking in downtown SF 1997/1998 - How do you spell "Vindictive"? Mayor Brown's police force engages on a year-long harassment program targeting cyclists. From police brutality, to ignoring cyclists when victims of accidents, to whitewashing the drivers who killed several local cyclists. www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/08/03/MN8807.DTL (The woman in the above article sustained her complaint of police brutality against the Mayor's police force.) www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1998/09/02/NEWS12448.dtl" www.sfbg.com/News/32/45/SFConfidential/index.html www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/06/04/MNR4BA9.DTL 1998 - This same Mayo takes heat from bike and transit advocates atually trying to improve city life. 1998 - Duh Mayo's regime rejects a minimal but key city-wide bike lane network. 1999 - A Mayoral reelection campaign receives a major surprise from a stealth write-in candidate, despite record campaign donations from special interests for Duh Mayor Brown. Backed by local cyclists, the stealth candidate unfortunately lost in a runoff election, but to quote one threat received by a local activist: "Payback is a mother******". 2000 - Good friend, fellow Limo Empress, and campaign contributor Oprah Winfrey launches campaign to vilify cyclists in major cities Here are the rest of the dots: Donors' millions burnish mayor www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/09/20/NEWS1130.dtl "Another list reports about $650,000 in donations to the 1999 San Francisco Mayor's Summit for Women, which featured a keynote address by talk-show star Oprah Winfrey." The LIMO Loving Oprah (who else loves limos in SF...?) www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/archive/1999/04/27/STYLE14580.dtl TOPIC: Meter maids and ticket issued to Oprah Winfrey's limousine (On "The Gary Radnich Show," KNBR-AM 680, Mon.-Fri. 6-9 a.m.) "They do a bad job, in my opinion, when they sneak up and try to tag you without giving you some form of a warning. After all, the job is to move the cars along, not simply to tag them. You tag them when they're not occupied. But then, to add insult to injury, to go out and leak that information so as to try to embarrass Oprah Winfrey, a volunteer and a decent person, and maybe one of the most powerful women in this country . . . that's very bush league." - San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown LIMO LOVERS UNITE! www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/04/21/MN37326.DTL STAR TICKET: Speaking of parking woes, everyone seems to be getting tickets these days -- even Oprah Winfrey. As the story is told to us, two limos pulled up to the loading zone in front of a Sansome Street hotel to pick up Oprah and her entourage Friday for her appearance at Mayor Brown's women's summit. ... A few minutes later, at Moscone Center, Oprah and her friend, former talk show host Gayle King, reportedly presented the tickets to Da Mayor. "The meter maid will be looking for a job tomorrow," Willie was overheard joking to his guests. "Maybe in Chicago." For the record, Parking and Traffic honcho Sunshine makes no apology for Oprah's tags, telling us the limos "were parked illegally." By the way, for all his trappings of power, we've never heard of Mayor Brown ever actually trying to fix friends' tickets -- he just takes 'em and pays 'em himself. Here's a riddle: how many egotistical Limo riders does it take to blame urban congestion on bicyclists? You connect-the-dots. Don't take the bait. |