Everybody loves body-cavity searches, right? Oh…maybe not. L.A. finds this out the hard way. Next, Cannondale’s Tom Armstrong gives his company’s take on the whole bankruptcy thing. Body cavity searches and bankruptcy—look, Ma, they both start with the letter “B”!
DISCLAIMER: A number of readers have emailed me and asked why I stated (in my last column) that Cannondale production will remain in Connecticut when the factory is actually in Pennsylvania? Good question. Chalk it up to a late night brain fart on my part. Cannondale’s main office is in Bethel, Connecticut and its factory is in Bedford, Pennsylvania (I’ve been to both places, so I’m not sure what my fingers were doing on the keyboard). There you have it.
Remember back in August of 2000 when all those folks demonstrated at the Democratic National Convention? No? Here’s a recap…Rage Against the Machine played a free concert to 8,000 people who were protesting globalism, big business, pollution, and a variety of other things that generally get summarized up at the end of a bong hit as being, “….sooo fucked up, man.”
Indeed.
The protests fell far from their mark. Instead of attracting attention to worthy causes, the shouting, milling and wearing of black “Anarchy” T-shirts only left most of America scratching their heads. “What do they want?” “Why are they protesting?” (and my personal favorite) “Why the hell are they protesting at the Democrats’ convention?” Good question. Most of the Democratic delegates were in complete accord with the protestors. But nope, downtown L.A. it was. Besides, the protestors had an ace in the hole—Ralph Nader For President!
OK, let’s think this one through—Ralph Nader has run how many times? Uh huh, I thought so. Look, Ralph Nader couldn’t win an election for Seventh Grade Hall Monitor at your average junior high school, and you’re trying to make him President of the United States? We got George Bush Jr. for your efforts, thank you very much.
Well, at least somebody was protesting for a good reason—a group of about 100 cyclists were also present that fine August day. The Critical Mass riders were on the scene protesting Los Angeles’ reliance on automobiles and its lack of commitment to the bicycle. By all accounts it was a fairly subdued demonstration.
The cyclists carried signs demanding a more bike-friendly city. They rode through downtown for a while until they were corralled by a legion of LAPD motorcycle cops who knocked the riders off their bikes, handcuffed them and carted them away to Twin Towers jail. In the end, 71 riders were charged with “reckless driving.” The riders were jailed overnight and later released. The LAPD eventually realized that you can’t arrest a cyclist for “reckless driving” and changed it to a misdemeanor charge of “obstructing a public way.” Eventually, the city dropped those charges as well.
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