Vile Velos?

By Sniffles

Today in Montreal, it was sunny and the temperature was in the high 70s Fahrenheit. Which meant that every restaurant that could had its terrasse set up, with nearly every seat full.

Other seats were filled, too — all over town. Bike seats.

See, Montreal is a very velo-friendly city, with easy-to-navigate commuter bike lanes downtown as well as well-maintained trails for pleasure riding. Bikes are welcome on designated Metro subway cars during rush hour. And of course, Montreal is the birthplace of the BIXI, the public bike-sharing franchise that's spread as far as London, Melbourne and Minneapolis — and coming soon to Washington, D.C.

But don't tell Dan Maes, that demented teabagger who just won the Republican nomination for governor of Colorado. Dan Maes thinks that bike sharing is evil. It's — gasp! — a "United Nations program."

We cats have no idea what that means. What we do know is this: Lots of Montrealers are getting around more easily at prices they can afford. They're getting good exercise and they're not polluting the air. And because the BIXI systems are selling all over the world, Quebec's economy is laughing all the way to the bank.

Oh, and there's one more thing we know. Dan Maes is an idiot.