Help Circus Cyclists Jailed for Cycling w/o a License

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Hi Martin,

Jeff Caplan from Art and Revolution here. I'm on my first bike tour...an art and rev bicycle powered
circus riding from St. Louis to Washington DC. I'm looking for some help route planning as The
Rudabega Bike Circus is made of mostly clowns who have not biked this part of the country. The team
is 20 people from vermont, canada, austin, madison etc. Today we're talking about routes between St.
Louis to Louisville, possibly through Carbondale. [email protected]

Do you have any contacts in this part of the country that could make a decisive suggestion about
bike friendly routes?

p.s. We were all arrested and put in jail last weekend for riding bicycles without a st. louis bike
liscence. We're all out of jail and doing fine, just a little tense. We're trying to get back
on the road, but our show schedule has been dist\rupted by the incarceration...so we are
reweaving it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.stlimc.org/ St. Louis Police shoot down the Flying Rutabagas May 21, 2003 The Flying
Rutabaga Cycle Circus traveled to St. Louis last week to kickoff their "Caravan Across the Cornbelt"
from St. Louis to Washington DC with a performance at the Biodevastation7 conference. The Flying
Rutabagas are clowns, stilt-walkers, and jugglers with ideas and opinions on the corporate control
of agriculture. For the weekend they had been offered to stay at the Bolozone, a south side
co-housing collective. That was their plan, before the St. Louis Police Department launched
"Operation Rutabaga Hunt." [ read on 1 | 2 | photos ]

On Friday, May 16, nine circus members were arrested for "biking without a license" in Tower Grove
Park. Their bicycles were impounded and they were held in jail for eight hours. When the police
realized that the charge had been taken off the books two years ago, they changed it to "obstructing
the flow of traffic," another bogus charge that is not intended to be used against bicyclists,
according to the Missouri Bike Federation. These charges have been dropped.

Almost simultaneously, another twelve Flying Rutabaga artists were arrested when St. Louis police
raided the Bolozone. The bike clowns were charged with "occupying a condemned building." Their bikes
were impounded and all their other possessions were locked up inside the Bolozone when it was
boarded up. Seven of the Rutabagas caught in the Bolozone raid were not released until Saturday
morning. Flying Rutabaga circus whips and juggling torches were taken, and Police Chief Mokwa
presented them as dangerous "weapons" at a press conference on Friday.

So far the Rutabagas had only about half of the groups' bicycles returned to them, with some of the
tires slashed while in police custody. St. Louis Police department called the park arrests "a
misunderstanding." On Tuesday May 20, Chief Mokwa apologized for the raid on the Bolozone and
allowed the owner to enter his own house. He managed to retrieve some of the things belonging to the
Flying Circus. However, the Bolozone remains boarded up.

The resilient Rutabagas still plan to cycle all the way to Washington DC, despite the trauma they
suffered at the hands of St. Louis police. They plan to arrive in DC on June 19, coinciding with the
Biotechnology Industry Organization Convention. They were scheduled to leave St. Louis on May 19,
but they are still being held back by the relentless arm of the St. Louis police.

[ Missouri Bike Federation's statement on the arrests : http://www.mobikefed.org/news.html#200305193

MARTIN KRIEG: "Awake Again" Author c/o BikeRoute.com 79 & 86 TransAms, nonprofit Nat. Bicycle
Greenway CEO Ever wanted anything so bad U were willing to die for it? Really die? By moving thru
clinical death and reversing paralysis, *I saw God* when I answered that question.

 

In article <210520031512353753%[email protected]>, "Cycle America/Nat. Bicycle Greenway"
<[email protected]> wrote:

[snip]

> I'm looking for some help route planning as The Rudabega Bike Circus is made of mostly clowns who
> have not biked this part of the country.

[snip]

> p.s. We were all arrested and put in jail last weekend for riding bicycles without a st. louis
> bike liscence.

[snip]

Gosh. There's a whole lot of clowns riding bikes all over my town, and none of them have been
arrested yet.

[snip]

> http://www.stlimc.org/ St. Louis Police shoot down the Flying Rutabagas May 21, 2003 The Flying
> Rutabaga Cycle Circus traveled to St. Louis last week to kickoff their "Caravan Across the
> Cornbelt" from St. Louis to Washington DC with a performance at the Biodevastation7 conference.
> The Flying Rutabagas are clowns, stilt-walkers, and jugglers with ideas and opinions on the
> corporate control of agriculture.

[snip]

Ahh...why do I get the feeling these arrests had more to do with the political viewpoints of the
group than with their cycling or housing plans?
--
Trudi "Just like Pagliacci did..."--Smokey Robinson
____
Say NO to secret judging and corruption in skating -- support SkateFAIR! http://www.skatefair.org

 

"Trudi Marrapodi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Ahh...why do I get the feeling these arrests had more to do with the political viewpoints of the
> group than with their cycling or housing plans?
> --

Oh that couldn't possibly be, we live in a country where political viewpoints, free speech and civil
liberties are protected. Uhh, oh yeah I forgot, that's mostly if you're a large corporation.

 

"Hunrobe" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > "one of the six billion" [email protected]
>
> wrote:
> >Oh that couldn't possibly be, we live in a country where political viewpoints, free speech and
> >civil liberties are protected. Uhh, oh
yeah I
> >forgot, that's mostly if you're a large corporation.
>
> What's the name of your corporation? Uhh, oh yeah I forgot, posting on
Usenet
> isn't *really* free speech. Only mass demonstrations are.
>

The fact that US government policy (including foreign, domestic and environmental) is primarily
dictated by large corporate interests has escaped you?

 

"one of the six billion" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
|
| "Trudi Marrapodi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
| news:[email protected]...
| >
| > Ahh...why do I get the feeling these arrests had more to do with the political viewpoints of the
| > group than with their cycling or housing plans?
| > --
|
| Oh that couldn't possibly be, we live in a country where political viewpoints, free speech and
| civil liberties are protected. Uhh, oh yeah
I
| forgot, that's mostly if you're a large corporation.
|
So, you're a large corporation? ....or are you writing from jail?

 

In rec.bicycles.misc Edward Dike, III <[email protected]> wrote:
: "one of the six billion" <[email protected]> wrote in message
: news:[email protected]...
[...]
: | Oh that couldn't possibly be, we live in a country where political viewpoints, free speech and
: | civil liberties are protected. Uhh, oh yeah I forgot, that's mostly if you're a large
: | corporation.
: |

: So, you're a large corporation? ....or are you writing from jail?

And Hunrobe <[email protected]> wrote:

: What's the name of your corporation? Uhh, oh yeah I forgot, posting on Usenet isn't *really* free
: speech. Only mass demonstrations are.

Not that I agree with the oot6b's opinions as stated but you two are committing a logical fallacy by
assuming a implies b or c where:

a == free speech and civil liberties are only protected for corporations

b or c == oo6b must be a corporation since he has spoken.

He never claimed that no one other than corporations can speak but that only the corporation's
speech is protected.

It would be similar to claiming that since person X robbed a bank that there is no private property
protections for banks.

--
'They paved paradise And put up a parking lot' -Joni Mitchell

 

"Hunrobe" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> >"one of the six billion" [email protected]
>
> wrote:
>
> >The fact that US government policy (including foreign, domestic and environmental) is primarily
> >dictated by large corporate interests has escaped you?
>
> First, you're confusing opinion with fact. You're free to believe that
large
> corporations "dictate" governmental policy.

No, fact is fact, and in this case you are seriously missing some.

 

"Hunrobe" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> >"one of the six billion" [email protected]
>
> wrote:
>
> >No, fact is fact, and in this case you are seriously missing some.
>
> Repeatedly claiming that your opinion is a fact doesn't make that opinion
a
> fact.
>

It is indeed a fact that our government policy is largely dictated by corporate interests. A very
obvious one at that. You can't change a fact by calling it an opinion. The proof is in its
existence. Whether you want to deny it or not does not change reality. Politicians get elected by
huge sums of corporate dollars poured into their campaigns, those politicians then favor those
entities in their actions. Laws get enacted or retracted by huge corporate dollars lobbying
behind them.

 

one of the six billion wrote:

> "Hunrobe" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> > >"one of the six billion" [email protected]
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> > >No, fact is fact, and in this case you are seriously missing some.
> >
> > Repeatedly claiming that your opinion is a fact doesn't make that opinion
> a
> > fact.
>
> It is indeed a fact that our government policy is largely dictated by corporate interests. A very
> obvious one at that. You can't change a fact by calling it an opinion. The proof is in its
> existence. Whether you want to deny it or not does not change reality. Politicians get elected by
> huge sums of corporate dollars poured into their campaigns, those politicians then favor those
> entities in their actions. Laws get enacted or retracted by huge corporate dollars lobbying
> behind them.

Well that's the party line of the Left anyways.

All corporate giving guarantees is that a corporate interest gets a hearing. It is by no means a
guarantee that interest gets translated into law (or laws removed/amended).

If what you were saying was fully true, there would be no purpose for non-corporate special interest
groups (labor, environment, safety, etc) to exist. Why bother?

SMH

 

"Stephen Harding" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > one of the six billion wrote:
> >
> > It is indeed a fact that our government policy is largely dictated by corporate interests. A
> > very obvious one at that. You can't change a
fact
> > by calling it an opinion. The proof is in its existence. Whether
you
> > want to deny it or not does not change reality. Politicians get
elected by
> > huge sums of corporate dollars poured into their campaigns, those politicians then favor those
> > entities in their actions. Laws get
enacted
> > or retracted by huge corporate dollars lobbying behind them.
>
> Well that's the party line of the Left anyways.

I never understand why people like to categorize the entirety of thinking into two camps.

>
> All corporate giving guarantees is that a corporate interest gets a hearing. It is by no means a
> guarantee that interest gets translated into law (or laws removed/amended).

Nothing is guaranteed about anything, but our society and our environment is atrociously run over by
corporate greed at the expense of the health and life of the people and their home.

>
> If what you were saying was fully true, there would be no purpose for non-corporate special
> interest groups (labor, environment, safety, etc) to exist. Why bother?

The problem is precisely that those groups do not have the level of organization, money and power as
the large corporations do. Those organizations are the only thing we have going for us. If the
masses woke up and stopped thinking that the markets created by and for corporate greed were their
own choices maybe those organizations could gain the power needed to balance things out. I'm highly
critical of the legal status as well as the public stature given to corporations. They should not
have the rights afforded to individuals. In practice they actually have much greater rights than
individuals. It's total bullshit and we don't have and won't have a true democracy until
corporations are made entirely subservient to society. Personally I vote for their elimination.

 

Sat, 24 May 2003 11:37:23 -0700, <[email protected]>, "one of the six billion"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I'm highly critical of the legal status as well as the public stature given to corporations. They
>should not have the rights afforded to individuals. In practice they actually have much greater
>rights than individuals.
. . . Because of a mistaken interpretation of a Supreme Court reporter's notes in an 1886 railroad
tax case, corporations are now legally considered "persons," equal to humans and entitled to many
of the same protections guaranteed only to humans by the Bill of Rights - . . .

http://www.thomhartmann.com/summary.shtml
--
zk

 

In article <[email protected]>, Zoot Katz <[email protected]> wrote:

> Sat, 24 May 2003 11:37:23 -0700, <[email protected]>, "one of the six
> billion" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >I'm highly critical of the legal status as well as the public stature given to corporations. They
> >should not have the rights afforded to individuals. In practice they actually have much greater
> >rights than individuals.
> . . . Because of a mistaken interpretation of a Supreme Court reporter's notes in an 1886 railroad
> tax case, corporations are now legally considered "persons," equal to humans and entitled to
> many of the same protections guaranteed only to humans by the Bill of Rights - . . .
>
> http://www.thomhartmann.com/summary.shtml

A transcription error in the US courts? Well, that hardly explains why Canada (and, I believe, other
nations using a British-style legal system) have similar "personhood" for corporate entities.

ObBike: Kona Kilauea with a Z2 Bomber. Now I can ride off curbs in style.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email protected] http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

 

Zoot Katz wrote:

> Sat, 24 May 2003 11:37:23 -0700, <[email protected]>, "one of the six
> billion" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >I'm highly critical of the legal status as well as the public stature given to corporations. They
> >should not have the rights afforded to individuals. In practice they actually have much greater
> >rights than individuals.
> . . . Because of a mistaken interpretation of a Supreme Court reporter's notes in an 1886 railroad
> tax case, corporations are now legally considered "persons," equal to humans and entitled to
> many of the same protections guaranteed only to humans by the Bill of Rights - . . .

...and the right to be taxed just like a human.

Why tax the corporation if you're already taxing the individuals who work for it? Government double
dipping??!!!

And I highly doubt any legal "transcription error", no less that from the Supreme Court itself, by a
"reporter", would stand long enough to become a basis of US, and generally Western, legal thought.

SMH

 

sort of OT but,

The Bill of Rights is only good if you are offsite from a workplace. The company you work for does
not have to adhere to those rights.

If you work for let's say Ford Motor Co. and walk around saying "Ford sucks", unless the Union
can save your job... I bet you won't have one for long.... That is the gist of what I believe
1ot6b is saying.

I am a democrat and I live in Texas. I am just waiting from the day I get a visit from Homeland
security telling me I get a free tatoo and a voucher for a free Amtrak (rail) ride to some
undisclosed location under the guise of "relocation"...

A bicycle License in St.Louis.... Geez, what a money hungry system they have there. Bycycling does
more for a city than Automobiles do... But I am preaching to the choir here...

Sorry, no clue on routes in that part of the country... Good Luck!

NS

 

"NS>" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
| sort of OT but,
|
| The Bill of Rights is only good if you are offsite from a workplace. The company you work for does
| not have to adhere to those rights.
|
| If you work for let's say Ford Motor Co. and walk around saying "Ford sucks", unless the Union
| can save your job... I bet you won't have one for long.... That is the gist of what I believe
| 1ot6b is saying.
|
|
| I am a democrat and I live in Texas. I am just waiting from the day I get a visit from Homeland
| security telling me I get a free tatoo and a voucher for a free Amtrak (rail) ride to some
| undisclosed location under the guise of "relocation"...
|
| A bicycle License in St.Louis.... Geez, what a money hungry system they have there. Bycycling does
| more for a city than Automobiles do... But I am preaching to the choir here...
|
| Sorry, no clue on routes in that part of the country... Good Luck!
|
| NS>

The Bill of Rights articulates your rights as they relate to the federal government, which has
unique, monopolistic powers. It does not, for the most part, interfere with a voluntary arrangement
you might have with your private employer, FoMoCo, or otherwise. And I do not believe at all that to
be his inference. As to your concerns regarding your political beliefs relating to your well being
in your state of residence...time to check your meds, or start studying history a bit more
thoroughly. ED3

 

"Edward Dike, III" <[email protected].net> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> As to your concerns regarding your political beliefs relating to your
well
> being in your state of residence...time to check your meds, or start studying history a bit more
> thoroughly. ED3
>

Not if he's an Afghani, Saudi or Iraqi. Pretty soon you'll be able to add Syrians, Iranians, North
Koreans and Cubans to the list of people treated outside the spirit of the bill of rights. It won't
be a far stretch to see environmentalists labeled as terrorists, there have been motions indicating
that direction. Activists of all kinds especially those against the WTO or Free Trade have been and
will increasingly be subjected to the surveillance and laws and judgments originally enabled for
the War on Terrorism. To not acknowledge that there is a serious problem with civil liberties,
human rights, adherence to the constitution and the bill of rights and democracy itself in today's
climate is ignorance of what has and is occurring. For those sitting in a lilly white world
following the corporate dictates it may seem far fetched but there are very real problems actually
occurring right now.

 

<cut>

Way Of Topic...

> The Bill of Rights articulates your rights as they relate to the federal government, which has
> unique, monopolistic powers. It does not, for the most part, interfere with a voluntary
> arrangement you might have with your private employer, FoMoCo, or otherwise.

By voluntary agreement ..do you mean the forced "nondisclosure agreement"?

> And I do not believe at all that to be his inference. As to your concerns regarding your political
> beliefs relating to your well being in your state of residence...time to check your meds, or start
> studying history a bit more thoroughly.

Just look in the news at "self pronounced" democrats... Aside from being shunned and disenfranchised
here in the U.S. there is a movement toward imprisonment for voicing their opinions (free speech)
about their anti-war stance. I may have been extreme with my nazi reference, but the "all or none",
follow the dictator blindly (because he is a president) ideal is rampant in this society. Mostly it
is caused by people's lack of knowledge and the inate ability for people to have things done for
them (including thinking). Then all you have to do is coerce the public to go kill a group of
individuals that they have never met nor have ever had enough information about that society to make
a valid deduction if they want to represent a faction of wealthy people and go to war with a pre 3rd
world country for some government related financial reason. So the rich can get more rich and the
poor can work for the "bossman" @ $5.50 US/hour... In 1963 no man's life was worth more than a $80
billion dollar a year government contract... It's sad, but it was proven. It keeps being proven with
the many men and women that expire unfortunately because the enemy is "bad"... Don't get me
started...

This is a personal opinion and terribly way off topic....I apologize.. back to cycling!!

NS>

> ED3
>

 

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...

...

> It is indeed a fact that our government policy is largely dictated by corporate interests. A very
> obvious one at that. You can't change a fact by calling it an opinion. The proof is in its
> existence. Whether you want to deny it or not does not change reality. Politicians get elected by
> huge sums of corporate dollars poured into their campaigns, those politicians then favor those
> entities in their actions. Laws get enacted or retracted by huge corporate dollars lobbying
> behind them.

People get elected by other people voting for them. Money _helps_ them convince others to vote for
them, but does not guarantee it. There have been plenty of times when people with tons of money have
lost elections to others who had much less in their campaign. Witness elections in California and
New Jersey in the last election cycle.

--
Dave Kerber Fight spam: remove the ns_ from the return address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

 

"David Kerber" <[email protected]_ids.net> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
>

> People get elected by other people voting for them. Money _helps_ them convince others to vote for
> them, but does not guarantee it. There have been plenty of times when people with tons of money
> have lost elections to others who had much less in their campaign. Witness elections in California
> and New Jersey in the last election cycle.
>

It happens but is the minority. Take a look at Bush's campaign contributors list, then go look for
the laws that have been enacted. If you don't believe it's the money setting policy, you're deluded.

 

A refrence to the JFK assination conspiracy theory. You also probably believe in big foot and allien
abductions. So which of the conspiracy theories do you believe in. Castro? Mafia? The Russians? The
milatary industrial complex? Hoffa? FBI? etc., etc.

"NS>" <[email protected]> wrote in message >
> Just look in the news at "self pronounced" democrats... Aside from being shunned and
> disenfranchised here in the U.S. there is a movement toward imprisonment for voicing their
> opinions (free speech) about their anti-war stance. I may have been extreme with my nazi
> reference, but the "all or none", follow the dictator blindly (because he is a president) ideal is
> rampant in this society. Mostly it is caused by people's lack of knowledge and the inate ability
> for people to have things done for them (including thinking). Then all you have to do is coerce
> the public to go kill a group of individuals that they have never met nor have ever had enough
> information about that society to make a valid deduction if they want to represent a faction of
> wealthy people and go to war with a pre 3rd world country for some government related financial
> reason. So the rich can get more rich and the poor can work for the "bossman" @ $5.50 US/hour...
> In 1963 no man's life was worth more than a $80 billion dollar a year government contract... It's
> sad, but it was proven. It keeps being proven with the many men and women that expire
> unfortunately because the enemy is "bad"... Don't get me started...
>
>
> This is a personal opinion and terribly way off topic....I apologize.. back to cycling!!
>
> NS>
>
>
>
>
> > ED3
> >
> >