The Portland Manifesto

Note the crescendo after the words "bicycle lanes..."

Given all the promises that president Obama made during the campaign, it could be unrealistic to hold anything more than a slender hope that we will see a national program of bicycle infrastructure. Of course such a program would represent a tangible step toward freedom from foreign——as well as domestic--oil.

Mind you, we wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel. The immensely sucessful Dutch and Danish cycling infrastructures have already transformed those societies and could serve as useful models.

While biking in Holland I rarely saw any fatties. Would a program that addressed both obesity and foreign oil dependence qualify to shake loose a few billion?