You've Entered The Twilight Zon(ing)

When fundamendalists take over the local school board, we know what can happen to school curricula. When tea partiers take over your local planning commission, it's not hard to imagine our communities looking more and more like the infrastructure mayhem in northern India seen in one of the most unlikely testimonials ever for sane civic planning, The History Channel's IRT Deadliest Roads.

Today, Mother Jones offers an eye-opening roundup of efforts by conservative activists to impede local planning and zoning commissions, which the activists believe "are carrying out a global conspiracy to trample American liberties and force citizens into Orwellian 'human habitation zones.'"

For a full dose of "taxed enough already" meets "environmental impact statement," check out Freedom Advocates, which devotes itself to promoting "the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Here's what the group considers the most recent assault on all things truly American: a decision by city fathers in Fort Collins, Colorado, to reduce a four-lane roadway that runs past Colorado State University to two lanes in order to make room for new bike lanes. (This blogger's favorite Freedom Advocates headline: "Are Scenic Byways Another Way to Steal Your Property Rights?") Sierra Daily has already touched on the fears of the tin-bike-helmet crowd: In August, Colorado gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes claimed Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's efforts to increase bike riding were "converting Denver into a United Nations community."

--Reed McManus