BIG BEND BIKERS FOR FREEDOM

Call to action to end Patriot act abuses

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:07:00 +0000

AN URGENT CALL TO ACTION FOR ALL AMERICANS:

-----Original Message-----
From: Michelle Richardson, ACLU [mailto:aclu@aclu.org]
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6:06 PM
Subject: Will the House protect your privacy?
...

We've got another big chance to end Patriot Act abuses--but we have to act fast.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had the opportunity to pass legislation to rein
in a bill that has become a symbol of out-of-control government invasions of
your privacy. They failed--approving a bill that does little to curtail the
sweeping powers embedded in the Patriot Act.

That's why we must do everything we can to ensure that the House of
Representatives passes a stronger bill--one that can lead to genuine reform of
the deeply-flawed Patriot Act.

Act right now. Ask your representative to co-sponsor the USA Patriot Amendments
Act of 2009.

http://tinyurl.com/yj46u53

Three Patriot Act provisions are set to expire on December 31, 2009. We have to
seize this chance to demand that Congress put an end to the government's
unchecked spying powers and ensure that innocent Americans' private information
will remain just that--private.

The USA Patriot Amendments Act of 2009 protects constitutional speech and
privacy rights by:

* Amending the national security letter statute to ensure that the government
obtains financial, communication and credit records only of people believed to
be terrorists or spies;

* Requiring the government to convince a court that a national security gag
order is necessary;

* Terminating the "lone wolf" authority that permits the government to spy on
people who are not part of a terrorist organization; and

* Ensuring that the so-called "library records provision" does not authorize
collection of library and bookstore records if they contain information on the
patron.

As you can imagine, the bill is not perfect. It leaves the Patriot Act's
so-called "material support" provision intact, permitting prosecution of those
who work with or for charities that give humanitarian aid in good faith to
war-torn countries. We're asking Members of Congress to add a provision that
would limit prosecution to those who actually intend to support
terrorist-oriented actions.

Please ask your representative to co-sponsor the USA Patriot Amendments Act of
2009.

http://tinyurl.com/ykgvt5u

As an ACLU lobbyist, I've worked to end the dangerous ways that the Patriot Act
curtails your freedom for more than six years. I can say first-hand how much
your emails matter if we are to pass genuine Patriot Act reforms.

Thanks so much for taking action today.

Sincerely,

Michelle Richardson
Legislative Counsel
American Civil Liberties UnionAdd to Technorati Favorites

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:04:00 +0000

awesome MC safety video set to house of the rising son

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:53:00 +0000

Hats off to Z
Add to Technorati Favorites

Words from a courageous survivor to a chicken shit politician

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:46:00 +0000

From:

2TheAdvocate.com

By JOHN A. COLVIN

Advocate River parishes bureau

Published: Mar 17, 2009 - Page: 1B

An Ascension Parish grand jury on Monday declined to indict the Sorrento mayor in a 2007 wreck on U.S. 61 in which a motorcyclist died and his wife was seriously injured.

On Oct. 14, 2007, Sorrento (La) Mayor Brenda Melancon, driving a Pontiac Bonneville, exited the Ascension Civic Center off U.S. 61 in Sorrento after leaving the Boucherie Festival.

Authorities have said that while trying to turn left onto the highway, Melancon pulled in front of a motorcycle driven by James Pickholtz, 41, of Prairieville, who died at the scene.
Following the accident, State Police booked Melancon into Parish Prison on counts of negligent homicide, negligent injuring and failure to yield from a private drive. Go to the link above to read the rest of the story.

And Ms. Amy Pickholtz tells the story from the perspective that no few news media will cover:
Taken from Bruce on Bikers Rights

Brenda Garon Melancon, Former Mayor
44337 Melancon Street, P.O. Box 7
Sorrento, LA 70778 . 225-675-8*7*

I hope on this day, 14 October 2009, that you will spend some time reading my letter, and that the message I am conveying will make a difference, because on this day I will spend some time at the cemetery mourning my husband Jim, and spend some time honoring him by reflecting on all the reasons that I fell in love with him.

"It's not the life that you live, it's the courage that you bring to it."--Yogi Bhajan

This is the quote I adopted in 2004 when I started to teach yoga. I really never understood why I adopted this particular quote as my own credo, and even put it on my yoga business cards. Now, I truly understand why.

It's been 2 years since your grossly negligent behavior as the driver of the car who violated our right-of-way, and as the Mayor, who although with prior knowledge did nothing about the existing problems at the intersection. We know the result of your negligence. The death of my husband Jim, the permanent disabling injuries to me, and the devastation to our entire family. I will remind you of your immediate response after the crash when asked if you had been in touch with the Pickholtz family, was "No. I don't wanna know. This is all so devastating to me. The accident was just horrible."

Horrible, yes, but this was not an accident, Ms. Melancon. This was an incident, caused by you, but not solely about you.

You reiterated how devastating all this was to you when you took it upon yourself to call The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge to use them as your own personal platform in response to the Sorrento Town Council meeting reporter including in her article my showing up at your public town hall meeting on Tuesday June 16, 2009. The headline on Friday June 19 read, "Mayor: Crash 'devastated' her":

http://tinyurl.com/yk6e98a

You literally slid out of the back door of your own town hall meeting (without having opened up the floor to any further business), when faced by me and the other 16 motorcycle riders, family and friends who sat or stood quietly without disrupting any of the business of your town council meeting. The Advocate reporter was irresponsible to even write an article for you and furthermore to intertwine my previous quotes into your dictated agenda.

My message to you of "It can never be over" written on a poster board was in response to you saying "It was a terrible accident, and I'm very sorry. I'm glad that it's over..." after the Grand Jury hearing concluded they would not indict you on Criminal Negligent Homicide, Criminal Negligent Injury and Failure to Yield from a Private Driveway. The Grand Jury's failure to indict does not mean you were found innocent. It means that the law in Louisiana does not support Justice. You should have been found guilty by proximate cause for killing my husband Jim, and for seriously injuring me, and you should have been charged with the ROW Violations ACT 195.

How can you think this will ever be over?

You need to know that I still need to go weekly to grief therapy, still need physical therapy, have to rely on pain medication daily, still live with PTSD, survivor's guilt, chronic pain, disabling injuries and depression. I am still paying exorbitant medical bills, and health insurance premiums as a result of you crashing into us. I have had continued tests, treatments, surgeries and therapies. I am scheduled for my fifth surgery. I must maintain myself physically in order to function at a reasonable level to care for children and maintain my household. The simplest tasks have become physically challenging and my everyday functioning is completely at the mercy of my pain levels throughout the day.

I am still unable to provide an income for my household. You took away took away my financial stability, and my physical ability to do the work I used to do. Yes, the insurance companies paid. It is a pittance after all the medical and legal expenses, and with the ongoing medical expenses and no income, how long do you think it will last?

And what are your financial ramifications?

You had the audacity to question if I think you felt nothing, for learning a "person was killed", as you put it, while propped up on your platform in the Advocate newspaper. This is not about what I think you feel, Ms. Melancon. This is about how you have taken no responsibility, morally or ethically as a human being, or any action to make any positive impact as a political figure. A person was killed, Ms. Melancon. His name was Jim Pickholtz and he was a son, a father, a husband, a friend and the absolute, unequivocal love of my life, with whom I was supposed to grow old.

Since you took it unto yourself to refer to your letter of May 22, 2008, in the newspaper, I am taking it unto myself to refer to your letter, also, in which you expressed "sympathy and condolences for the loss of my husband." I need to remind you that I did not "lose" my husband and your wording was entirely insensitive to the fact that you killed him. Your timing couldn't have been any worse, either. It was very damaging for me to have received your letter on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, and even more damaging to read what I consider an empty jumble of contrived clichés and self justification defending your previously perfect driving record.

Nowhere in your letter or to the media did you ever ask, "Is there something I can do to help?", or ask how I am, or how the children are. Nowhere did you reach out a hand or reach beyond your own self, or into your political position as a public official to DO anything to help me, my family or the community.

Why?

Courage. Well... it takes courage to do so. I think you've buried your head in the sand as a coward.

I am writing proposed legislation and will be on the floor with two Bills next June, even though I have never been politically minded before. I am talking with the new administration in Sorrento in order to make the necessary changes to the entrances and exits of the property at the Ascension Civic Center. I have volunteered as the Director of the Baton Rouge Chapter of MAC [Motorcycle Awareness Campaign], and have applied for MAC to be present at the largest festivals in the area that are non-motorcycle events so that our message and mission goes out to the motoring public. I am speaking on behalf of MAC and independently on television shows, radio shows and at events held by Motorcyclists' Rights Organizations that invite me. I am actively involved in my community and do whatever I can to help by guiding and talking with other crash victims, and comforting other widows of motorcycle riders killed by motorists like you. I am trying to make a difference, so that no one else has to go through what I am living.

All of this takes courage.

In two years I have come from being totally incapacitated, months spent in a wheelchair, and having to re-learn the simplest of physical functions that we all take for granted--like walking, from begging God to take me to Jim, to waking up daily in grief and depression and loneliness, in anger and pain, to enduring the emotional and physical rollercoaster of loss--of Jim, of health, of my blended family, of my entire life as it was, what I describe as "blissfully happy."

It takes courage to standup for my rights and advocate for motorcycle awareness. It took courage to sit before you in your meeting. It takes courage to write you this letter, which I can only represent as my truth. It takes courage to accept that I am a victim, but that I will not be victimized. It takes courage each day to live without Jim, yet honor Jim all the ways that I choose.

So I ask, who are you speaking with about being a driver who killed a motorcyclist? How are you educating motorists to look for motorcycles? How are you spreading the message to other motorists, so that they don't kill a motorcyclist, too?

You had over a year in office to correct the problems that exist at that intersection, and you have the rest of your life now as a civilian to do something, and yet to this date, you still have done nothing. I maintain that no matter what the Attorney General says about the crash site, the tree line, the guardrails, or the stop sign placement at that intersection didn't kill Jim: You did. You were behind the wheel of the car, and you violated our right-of-way. You are the proximate cause of this incident. You also knew about the obstructions and yet, you didn't take the care to insure that the right-of-way was clear.

The law in Louisiana is not yet in place, but it will be after next session, that would have convicted you, which is Ordinary Negligent Homicide. I maintain there is no justice, there is just law. If there was justice, you'd be off the road, without a license to drive. You'd be at the very least doing community service and advocacy work for motorcycle awareness, and you would have been found guilty on all counts of negligent homicide, negligent injury and failure to yield, and you would have been charged under the current ROW Violations Act 195 and convicted of that, too. Louisiana should be ashamed as a State to not have the proper law in place to convict those responsible for negligent homicide. And you should be ashamed, Brenda Melancon, that you're doing nothing to make amends for killing my husband Jim, permanently injuring me, and devastating an entire family, not for months, but for the rest of our lives.

Perhaps you shouldn't have listened to your lawyers, and been in touch with us personally from the beginning of this tragic incident. Perhaps you should have considered the timing of your letter, the affect of the content and your comments to the media with greater stringency. Perhaps, you should look at the forgiveness that you hope I will be able to offer you with some more reflection and merit.

I invite you muster up the courage to take your head out of the sand and do something.

In memory of my husband Jim I remain,

Amy Pickholtz . brmac@eatel.net
FTY-ROWV Widow/Survivor/Bikers' Rights Activist
Director, Baton Rouge Chapter, Motorcycle Awareness Campaign
P.O. Box 4762 . Baton Rouge, LA 70821 . http://www.macorg.com

***

FOOTNOTE FROM BRUCE ARNOLD

It's a shame that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood apparently never reads the many FTY-ROWV messages like this that are regularly sent to him. Perhaps if he did, motorcyclists would not have been slighted at the USDOT's Distracted Driving Summit a few weeks ago:

http://tinyurl.com/yjerwmh

Perhaps if he did, he'd acknowledge that every year right-of-way violations by distracted, inattentive and negligent cagers contribute to the loss and suffering of over 100,000 families like Amy's who are impacted by motorcycle accident injuries and fatalities. Perhaps if he did, he'd address more of the distracted driving problem than teens texting. And perhaps, the (preordained?) outcomes of his staged summit would've included more than plugging the new website of Cooper Munroe and Emily McKhann, two "moms" (who just happen to be long-time political activists) that Lahood claims he "first met ... at our Distracted Driving Summit where they were blogging about the conference to their community."

http://tinyurl.com/yhl48qn

I cannot find any reference to either of LaHood's designated distracted driving divas ever having any involvement with the cause prior to the Summit. So I can only wonder how they happened to be in attendance, and what good fortune it was for all involved that "fate" brought them together with the Secretary. And isn't it just amazing that these two "concerned mothers", traffic safety neophytes such as they were, managed to bring "their" new distracted driving website online less than 24 hours after the Summit concluded:

http://www.momsmsg.com/

Oh well... Most of you still believe that Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack ... that JFK was killed by a lone gunman ... and that on 9/11 a small band of Muslims with bad flying records and box cutters outwitted the world's most sophisticated and powerful air defense systems to hijack four airliners, using two to topple three WTC towers, flying one low enough to punch a hole in the first floor of the Pentagon without damaging the lawn, and crashing one into a field in Pennsylvania without leaving any significant debris. So I doubt Le DOT will have any trouble pulling LaHood over your eyes. Besides, very soon we'll all have bigger fish to fry:

http://tinyurl.com/OilPeakalypseNow

Now might I suggest that you go to http://pub42.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3562429698&frmid=48&msgid=1068991&cmd=show

And pay your respects to the courage of Ms. Pickholtz and survivors like her, who are overcoming their own personal tragedy to fight for YOUR LIFE!

Honor me with words if you feel my actions deserve honor
Mention my name in your prayers if you think I need prayers
Praise my fight if you think My fight is just
But if you will not stand by my side in battle
then go away a pretend you never knew my nameAdd to Technorati Favorites

Sheila Bell Run 09

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:22:00 +0000

Over 100 bikes showed up to Ride for Sheila Bell, owner of long time biker bar, to help defray medical expenses after she was shot by her husband who then shot and killed himself.

Considering other events occurring on the same day in the area and counting the cages this showed this was a good turn out.

Many participated to make this an outstanding event. However Kudos really need to go out to Debbie of Pockets Pool in Tallahassee who threw much support behind the cause and is somewhat of a business competitor. But then that's how it should be, the biker community coming together to support on of their own putting other concerns aside. Click here for more pics and a major thumbs up to all who worked together to overcome a tragedy.

Building 7 is the TRUTH of 9-11

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:21:00 +0000

I happened to be watching CNN when the first plane flew into the world trade towers.
While news anchors were asking how could a plane be so far of course my first thought was terrorism. I like everybody else was outraged as it began to look like we were attacked by forces from beyond our borders.

I still believe it was terrorism. Only now I believe the terrorist are still among us.

945 architectural and engineering professionals
and 5223 other supporters including A&E students
have signed the petition demanding of Congress
a truly independent investigation.

945 architectural and engineering professionals will to stake their professional reputations and futures on what they believe to be a lie???

No plane hit building 7. Yet it went down in almost the exact manner as the two buildings that did go down after being hit by planes??????

The official explanation that fires caused the collapse of Building 7 is incredible in light of the fact that fires have never caused a steel-framed building to totally collapse, before or after September 11th, 2001

http://www.wtc7.net/

"In the size of the lie there is always contained a certain factor of credibility,
since the great masses of the people ... will more easily fall victim to a
big lie than to a small one."--Adolf Hitler, in Mein Kampf

From John Mason
Perhaps the major underlying assumption of Levitt and Dubner is that, “people aren’t ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ People are people, and they respond to incentives. They can nearly always be manipulated—for good or ill—if only you find the right levers.”

Bring a soldier home for Christmas Update

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:01:00 +0000

We are reposting our post of 10-8-09 Along with an update. Don't you wish we could bring all our soldiers home? We can't, "YET". However we can, as a community, show that we care by at least bringing a few home to spend the holidays with there families:

Original POST:
TALLAHASSEE (and anybody else from anywhere else that would like to see this happen)!

The Vietnam/Legacy Vets MC M Chapter and the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter #96 are spearheading an effort to bring at least 6 (more if the community will support it) soldiers home for the holidays.

Their are currently six soldiers identified who based in Germany are currently deployed in Iraq. They have been in Iraq since thanksgiving day, 2008. Some are on their second, third and fourth tours of duty.

The military will fly them back to their stations "IF" they are able to get home. The "IF" is based on their ability to get a ticket home. Tickets home are going for $1200 to $1600 per soldier (and going higher as the holidays get closer) means that if the 6 are to come home they will need YOUR help and like NOW!

It does not matter about how you feel about the war. It is not about the war. It is about standing for those who stand FOR YOU. Yes the economy sucks but THIS IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

CAN YOU THINK OF A BETTER CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO GIVE TO YOURSELF THAN TO GIVE BACK TO THOSE WHO GIVE TO YOU??????

So even if you don't live in the Tallahassee area. If you live anywhere and just want to do a good thing send your Tax Deductible checks or money orders to:

Viet Nam Veterans of America Big Bend Chapter 96, 241 Lake Ella Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32303-5572 VVA 96

‘All our dreams can come true—if we have the courage to pursue them.’ Walt Disney

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
Thomas Jefferson

UPDATE:

The following are some communications I (Mrs. Ridley) have received from a few of the soldiers currently deployed in Iraq that we are trying to get home for the holidays. Joe West with the Vietnam Veterans of America has raised over $2,000 so far. He's busting his butt to help make this happen for our soldiers. So far, Joe has received $1,000 from the Vietnam Veterans of America, #96 and $1,000 from the American Legion in Tallahassee. College students from Florida State University are trying their hardest to raise money for this cause and have raised $100.00 so far this week. As far as I know, we've had one private donation from a gentleman and his wife in Carrabelle. The only thing that I can think to say is THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who is supporting this effort! We've got a long way to go and just a short time to get there, but together, we can bring them home for the holidays. We are planning on purchasing the tickets 30 days before their leave dates which will be some time at the end of the month (October 2009). Your continued support for these soldiers is absolutely priceless and very much appreciated by them all.

Stephen Weber

i cant wait to leave my mom cant wait either but she is doing ok with it i cant wait to go home and see my brother though he is more excited then i am. but i do now plan on visiting you guys in FL sometime in june i think because i will definetly have to thank you for all your doing and i am sure shawn and I would have one hell of a time

Kevin Rhodes

I was in the room the other night you was talking to Shawn. He was on Webers phone in my CHU. I wish Shawn could b my roomate again when we get back to Germany but they want to keep Platoons together this time.
I appreciate what your doing for us on the plain tickets.

Michael Sullivan

hey mama rid told me to get a hold of you as soon as i got in. i had to take an 8 hour convoy back from balad with a different platoon and got hit by a fuckin EFP one of the new IEDs. thank you for all you are doing for us on the plane tickets home. can't wait to get back to the states to see you and my family again.

Shawn Ridley

thank ya so much again mama. tell joe and everyone else thank ya to. everyone is fine just tired but we are all good. i will try to call yall as soon as i can. love ya ya son shawn

CAN IT GET DONE?????? WHY NOT??????

GIVE TO THOSE WHO STAND FOR YOU

CONSIDER IT A CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO YOURSELFAdd to Technorati Favorites

An invite to any Florida ABATE member:

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:48:00 +0000

We would love to hear about what went on in the recent state meeting. Since the Masterlink minutes rarely provides a comprehensive look at what really goes on, herres your chance to let us know.

Name will be with h eld if requested.Add to Technorati Favorites

ABATE of Florida, what the hell.........what we have been telling you is what

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Awhile back we posted that the President/lobbyist of ABATE of Florida had resigned.

Link posted

6/14/09 ABATE OF FLORIDA PRESIDENT/LOBBYIST RESIGNS

But then all of a sudden it was business as usual with James D. Reichenbach (aka Doc) continuing to muck up things as usual and we wondered what the hell is going on:

Well thanks to Mike "Radar" Price, former legislative director of ABATE of Florida we seem to be getting a partial glimpse as to what has been going on, Following are some excerpts and the links to where they are posted:

First up, Why did Mike "Radar" Price resign:

Email to the Board - 10/25/2008 6:35pm
"At the September board meeting I resigned as state president but after talking to Danny I agreed to stay until 1 Jan 2009 and I intend to honor this agreement. That being the case I here by request that the Abate of Florida, Inc. board of directors terminate my contract as lobbyist at the same time. I have found you a new lobbyist for this session and you can make a deal with him.... "

It continues with personal reasons for his resigning that is of no concern to ABATE and or it's members... His resigning was not the issue, how he handled it was another. It involved Frenchi and Lana and a "personal" conflict that was by far - unprofessional and childish. It ultimately resulted in Frenchi and Lana leaving ABATE.

and

On April 1st, 8:15 am, I submitted my "Intent to resign" to the Vice-President with a brief explanation. At 9:25 am, the Vice-President resigned. At 10:00 am, the President resigned. Kind of makes you wonder what was so bad to cause a domino effect.

Next up You can read the Vice Presidents resignation here

Following is the resignation letter of James D. Reichenbach the president/lobbyist"

From:
To: "Patti" ; "BG" ; "Steve"
; "Dan" ; "Mudder" ; "Bob A"
; "Dan Fish" ; "Mike Price" ; "Dan
Daniel" ; "state office" ; "Bob" ; "TJ"
; "Larry Crow" ; "Tom" ; "Val"
; "Big Mike"
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 10:30 AM
Subject: resignation
At 10:00 am this morning I have resigned my position as President of Abate of Florida, Inc. and as lobbyist, I also want my name stricken from the rolls of Abate of Florida, Inc. I will send my life membership card back immediately upon arriving home. I will get all of Abate's things together and they will be delivered as soon as possible. Danny Fish has also resigned so Bob Alexander is now the State President and will I'm sure do a good job. For those of you that wonder why, I am tired of the games being played on me by board memebers and people doing it for themsvelves instead of the cause. I thought we were over this but all it took was for me to take care of my dying mother and the
games started again.
James D. "Doc" Reichenbach II

Now as those who have either been reading our posts or following the garbage put out by the President of ABATE of Florida you know that much of the blame for legislative failures last year were placed on some Tallahassee Bikers that decided to have their own voice as evidenced here:

President of ABATE of Florida again attacking everybody that does not bow to his highness

http://www.bigbendbikersforfreedom.com/2009/06/president-of-abate-of-florida-again.html

When the truth is, that while blaming us he was also blaming and chastising his own board as can be seen here: http://www.floridabiker.com/resigninfo/report.html while at the same time deluding ABATE's membership.

Excerpt:

Sunday, March 29th - 9:45 pm - email from the President to the entire State Board
"I am home right now but will be leaving tuesday morning back to Ohio. Call Danny Fish for anything abate and call Mike Price and (other person) if it has to do with lobbying as they are now the lobbyist. Also.... (he continued into personal attacks on ABATE members).

Now we have a problem... I tried to call the lobbyist but only got voicemail and was getting no return calls. I contacted the Vice President who informed me that he was also leaving messages with no response. We discussed the content of the email message and discussed the situation with the upcoming Senate Committee hearing on Wednesday, April 1st. The decision was made for me to attend the committee hearing and plan for things to be resolved soon. All I needed to do was the same as the House hearing... support the bill, get a match, get a vote, then target the next committee for needed changes.

Tuesday, March 31st - 1:15 pm
I arrived in Senator Garcia's office to discuss the next day's agenda and introduction of the amendment. As I arrived, the lobbyist was sitting in the office foyer area talking on his phone. Upon completing his conversation, he abruptly got up and started to leave the room with no acknowledgement. I spoke out, "Hi Doc, how are you doing?". His reply was crude and rude to say the very least as he walked down the hall without ever turning around...

From me to the lobbyist - 1:22 pm, text message
"I understood you were headed to Ohio, what am I supposed to do please"

Reply from the lobbyist
".... I am representing myself you two are abate's lobbyist that's what you and the (expletive) wanted"

Reply back from me
"Sorry, but I have no clue what .....(personal reference) has to do with any of this, if you are doing ABATE business, I need to leave. I am not the lobbyist."

Additional reply from me to the lobbyist
"Since you are here, I will head back home"

Which means that much of the information being put out to the public and for that matter ABATE's general membership and we must assume the legislators involved was not necessarily correct.
And we are being very kind when we say "Not necessarily correct," because we would prefer the word, lies.

Was there an "Official" Emergency Meeting on April 1st, 2009? This we will print in it's entirety as it is printed here:

Yes... at least as far as we knew at the time.

Because the Vice President and President both resigned that morning, I sent a copy of my "Intent to Resign" to Bob Alexander the acting President so that he would have an understanding of the actions prompting the resignations. I beleive he discussed this letter with the other executive board member and a decision was made to call an emerency meeting that evening.

There were two meetings actually, one April 1st and the second on April 3rd.

The meetings was recorded, brought to order, role called with everyone in attendence except the President, Vice President, and one exception in the second meeting.

Much was discussed concerning the past and present actions of the President. A motion (after several changes) was made to offer the President a "delayed" acceptance of his resignation so that he could finish the legislative session. A vote was taken and passed with the idea that the legislative session would be covered and further changes could be made at that time. Looking back, it was unfortunate that little or possibly no discussion about the Vice President came into play, it focused heavily on the President and Lobbyist positions.

No one realized that these meetings were not following the proper protocol and could therefore become null and void. And I beleive that to also be true of the President as evidenced by an email he sent referencing the deal offered by the Board. However, the information in the meeting was damaging, so I'm sure that some quick research was done to discover a way out of releasing any recordings or minutes.

However, the fact that this meeting could never be construed as official as held at that time, it could have easily been held again for the purpose of making it official. If the President was really sincere about his resignation, a procedural change could have been made, and a proper meeting could have been called. This has been verified by a couple of corporate lawyers.

Think about it... if two executive Board members die in an airplane crash, does the corporation just die with them? Of course not. There are equally avenues to take care of resignations as well.

So why did this procedural change not take place? Probably because it was determined that the remaining board did not have the authority to accept or deny the resignations as well. After all... how many times has the President resigned over the years...? with no acceptance...? Do you really think he expected this one to stick?

As discribed to me by a board member a few days later... a decision was made (by whom I have no knowledge) to allow the President to remain in position until the end of his term - June 30th, 2010.

Since I was never called for any further board meetings, I have no idea who made this decision.

Due to space we have not printed everything as it can be found here
http://www.floridabiker.com/resignation.html in it's entirety including the following:

While there is "supposed" to be significant change in leadership on July 1st, 2010 - this will not happen unless the membership makes the choice to press this change. Over the next few months, decisions will have to be made about the future direction of the organization.

Much information has been suppressed over the past year, and I've discovered that this is, and has been, the "norm" for the corporation for some time. Ever wonder why people disappear and never heard from again...? Everyone wonders, but the questions are not asked, the answers are not given, and threats are made to suppress.

Now recently we heard from a local chapter member that the local Chapter was going to raise the issue of having "Doc" removed from office at the next state meeting. We will wait to see if that occurs. It is hard to know what the local chapter is up to since they no longer put out a newsletter as per the by-laws (last I read them), despite the fact they sold ads and collected money for such a newsletter (this information we got from one of our own advertisers and have made no attempt to validate it).

Reading the site it would appear that more is yet to come. Regardless Those who have followed this site and Bruce and rc's Biker Forum would know that ABATE of Floridas President/lobbyist appears to have been milking ABATE of Florida to his own benefit for years. We have caught much flack from others for our postings. Threats have even been tossed around.

What is amazing is how many members have been aware of the information we have printed yet sat idly by allowing it to happen? Violations of by-laws, denial of members rights, attempted suppression of individual rights, lies, lack of reporting to the state, questions regarding where the money goes
and on and on and...............

Mike "Radar Price" writes:

ABATE has a lot to offer to the motorcycling community with the right attitude in place. I sincerely hope that ABATE will survive the needed changes and that significant growth will occur. At this time, there is a great divide developing among motorcyclist, and I believe that the failure of ABATE to reorganize will effect its future.

It would appear the last couple of years motorcyclist have been a favorite target of legislators and 'Other Vehicle Operators" alike. It has also become OBVIOUS that the organization formed to protect the rights of Bikers has become corrupt to the point of impotence. Can ABATE of Florida rise like a phoenix from the ashes and tight itself? Not until they learn to learn, open their ears and rediscover respect!

For more of our Posts on ABATE of FLorida:
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?oe=utf8&ie=utf8&safe=active&source=uds&start=28&hl=en&q=ABATE++of+FLorida+blogurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.bigbendbikersforfreedom.com%2F

or

http://tiny.cc/cvI2W

Are we riding free yet?Add to Technorati Favorites

Will Florida insurance companies win again at your expense

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:37:00 +0000

I have to wonder if there any other state legislatures as controller by the insurance and telecommunications industry as Florida. THe n ewest legislation to divorce you from your money and possibly your drivers license.

Florida May Put Loud Stereo Tickets on Driving Record

By The Newspaper
October 10, 2009

A member of the Florida House of Representatives wants to make driving with a loud stereo a crime on the same level as driving with an open container of alcohol. State Representative D. Alan Hays (R-Umatilla) last month introduced House Bill 137 which modifies an existing loud stereo statute to double the cost of fines and make the offense a moving violation. Current Florida law makes it unlawful to drive with a stereo “plainly audible” from twenty-five feet away or that is “louder than necessary for the convenient hearing by persons inside the vehicle” when driving past a church, school or hospital. Law enforcement officers are exempt as are politicians who use loud soundmaking devices for “political purposes.” The typical fine is $78 with no points.

HB 137 would impose three license points and boost the fine to $180 for a third offense. The addition of points will serve as a boon to insurance companies which will collect significantly higher premiums from ticket recipients. The industry has already rewarded Hays $16,650 in political contributions since his election in 2004, including support for his run for the state Senate in 2010.

Although state law already imposes a specific fine for loud stereos, several municipalities have written their own civil ordinances in order to impose harsher punishments including sixty days in jail, a $500 fine and the potential for thousands in impound fees. Passage of the Hays bill would allow these cities to add license points to the list.

View a copy of HB 137 in a 75k PDF file at the source link below.
Source: House Bill 137 (Florida Legislature, 9/22/2009)

[courtesy thenewspaper.com]

Keep in mind now that it is already against the law and one would suspect that with sufficient enforcement the current law would be adequate. But oh no, not in Florida, the land of illegal red light cameras and seizure of personal property for traffic violations.

We once posted the question would Florida become the first "Police State" in the nation? Unless somebody can provide us with a better contender then will postulate that it already has.Add to Technorati Favorites

Greg Zaffkes reaction to his mothers killer still be allowd to drive

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:12:00 +0000

Lora Hunt, the lady who was painting her fingernails while driving when she ran into and killed motorcyclist Anita Zaffke has plead not guilty to six counts of reckless homicide.

In her sons, Greg words (Greg runs the site Black Nail Brigade ) words:

It's funny, the words that defendant's attorney's chose to try and turn the tide of public opinion. It will be interesting to say the least to see their defense in court. Although they are banking on sympathy of the court, there is still the possibility that she changes her plea now that "discovery" has been made and they can view the evidence.

We are not looking for the "evil" person here. We are demanding an appropriate consequence & punishment for Lora Hunt's INTENTIONALLY RECKLESS actions while driving that took my mom's life.Add to Technorati Favorites

The State's Attorney asked that Lora Hunt's driver's license be suspended. The fact that she had no priors and was a Nurse was brought up. So the judge denied the request and Lora Hunt can drive wherever she wants right now. Up to Wisconsin to see her daughter (because apparently her daughter can't drive to visit her?), and on a vacation to Missouri next month. This is absolutely ridiculous!

My mother will not see me get married. She will not get to visit her grandchildren let alone see them ever. The list of things I will never have my mother be a part of is endless. Why should her killer be allowed to drive and get on with her life? She should have to think about what she has done every time she has to take the bus, call a cab, or ask for a ride.

Life taking should be life changing!

GZ

Remember now this is the case whereby Laura Hunt was originally charged with, " with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident" and it was only through public outcry that the charges were changed.

When a person is arrested for DUI (in the state of Florida) their drivers license is immediately suspended. Is painting ones fingernails while driving any less of a crime? Yet this individual who without alcohol or drugs in their system exhibiting such poor judgment is still allowed to drive?

Who will she kill next?

At the very least before being allowed back on the road she should have been evaluated as to the competency to posses and/or own a deadly weapon. Consider the comments made by Assistant State's Attorney Michael Mermel:

the charges were appropriate because Hunt's decision to paint her nails while driving went beyond a temporary distraction into conscious recklessness.

It is apparent that the Judge in this case, Circuit Judge Fred Foreman's, has shown recklessness in his decision and should recuse himself from this case. You can write the court here:
courts@co.lake.il.us

AS most judges have blind spots regarding their judgement (pun intended) you could write the Governor of Illinois here:
http://www.illinois.gov/GOV/contactthegovernor.cfm

more Posts on Anita Zaffke
lake zurich nail-painting crash that killed motorcyclist ruled ...
driver allegedly painting nails crashes into, kills motorcyclist
open letter to lora l. hunt reckless killer of anita zaffke

Update Anita Zaffke's killer has ticket dismissed, prosecutor ...
Update Anita Zaffke Killer, will justice prevail
What good for Bikers to stand for every cause that comes down the road if we can not stand for our own!

Patriot Act being tweaked, very badly for us!

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:27:00 +0000

Bush, Obama, whats the freaking difference? From the Jurist:

Senate committee approves reauthorization of expiring Patriot Act provisions
Jaclyn Belczyk at 4:22 PM ET

[JURIST] The US Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] voted 11-8 Thursday to approve [press release] legislation [S 1692 materials] reauthorizing three provisions of the USA Patriot Act [JURIST news archive] set to expire at the end of the year. The portions of the act to be renewed allow federal authorities to conduct "roving" wiretaps, compel the production of business, medical and library records, and designate suspects as "lone wolf" agents of a foreign power. The bill would also impose greater oversight on the FBI's use of its surveillance powers and would cause several provisions of the act to expire after another four years. At the opening of Thursday's executive business meeting [materials], bill sponsor and committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) [official website] said:

I remain mindful of our responsibility to ensure both security and liberty as we proceed. All of us know that the threats to Americans' safety are real and continuing. Our bill will provide the tools that are being used to protect us, while increasing the protections of our vital constitutional rights, as well. The bill we consider today will serve to extend the authorization of the three expiring Patriot Act provisions requested by the administration. We also provide for increased Government accountability requiring audits and reviews of how these vast authorities are being used.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] criticized the bill [press release], saying it does not go far enough to protect civil liberties. The bill will now go before the full Senate.

Last week, a US Department of Justice (DOJ) official told the committee that the Obama administration supports the reauthorization [JURIST report] of the expiring provisions. The 2009 expiration date on Section 215, the "business records" provision, and Section 206, the "roving wiretap" provision, were set in March 2006 when the 16 key provisions [DOJ report] of the Patriot Act were renewed and 14 made permanent [JURIST report]. Additional civil liberties safeguards built into the renewal included allowing recipients of Section 215 subpoenas to challenge the accompanying gag order. In the wake of these amendments, the ACLU withdrew a lawsuit challenging Section 215 [JURIST report]. Despite the amendments, a federal judge ruled last year that imposing gag orders on recipients of NSLs is unconstitutional without judicial review [JURIST report]Add to Technorati Favorites

America currently sounds a lot like Japan-were screwed

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:50:00 +0000

From: When Will Deflation Turn Into Inflation? (And How Quickly?)

Japan avoided inflation because policymakers decided the best way to deal with the bust was greater government spending and no bank reform. So insolvent zombie banks stuck around for 7-8 years, debt was not written off, and inflation never took off. Basically, there was a political decision to benefit government bureaucrats who controlled fiscal purse strings and the creditor classes who wanted neither inflation nor their debt to be written down. Ordinary Japanese citizens and taxpayers paid the bill with their national debt bill rising, their personal debts staying flat with no inflation, and low economic growth leading to stagnant household income growth

Evidenced by:

Banks that teetered on the edge of extinction last year are returning to their old ways as the shock of the financial crisis fades, the Wall Street Journal reports. The banks are handing out hefty compensation packages again and dealing in the same risky financial instruments that caused last year's collapses. Wall Street "has been tiptoeing back into the pond," says one former regulator. "They have short memories."

newser wallstreet journal

New York Times; DAVOS, Switzerland — Even as Congress looks for ways to expand President Obama’s $819 billion stimulus package, the rest of the world is wondering how Washington will pay for it all

Huffington post:Banks argue that loans should not be marked down if they’re still “performing.” As long as borrowers are meeting their contractual obligations, there’s no reason to take a writedown. The problem is, this gives banks an excuse to extend, amend and pretend. They can make concessions on loan terms or delay foreclosure notices, if only to maintain the fiction that borrowers will make good.
With real estate prices likely to fall, and stay, 40 percent below the peak, borrowers have a big incentive to renege on their side of the bargain. This is how we become Japan. Emergency bailout facilities allow banks that otherwise would have failed under the weight of bad loans to hold those loans to maturity — pretending the bad ones will be paid off in full over time.

In reality, many loans will default and banks will bleed capital for years. Take commercial real estate. As the Congressional Oversight Panel has reported, few CRE loans that were originated at the peak will qualify for refinancing when they mature. Banks can pretend they will, carrying the loans at values far above what will ever be paid back.

Currently the weak dollar, though not good for you and I is good for the corporate/government alliance. Just as are high unemployment rates that insure that you will work (if you have a job) harder, longer hours (or less or whatever the hell your employer tells you to do) for less money and benefits and not bitch about it.

Corporations will sell your production overseas at cheap prices (remember the slave labor countries we use to buy our goods from?) and executives will continue to reap multi-million dollar paychecks.

Government will sell billions in debt to foreign countries at ridiculous low interest rates insuring our status as a debtor nation.

Once the government has milked the foreign governments for all that it can it will raise interest rates.
Insuring that the citizenry and small business that was crushed by the banks and unemployment will have to further enrich the banks through higher cost of debt.

China will be happy because as much as they bitch they still peg their currency to the dollar. As the dollar rises, so will there currency whatever they wish to call it. They can then sell their stockpiled commodities (should they choose to ) at much higher prices.

Then people will start yelling that the dollar is to strong. Inflation will set and the banks and government can pay off their massive debt with inflated dollars.

AS usual the gov'ment will screw it up, inflation will go threw the roof and "We the People"
will once again be screwed.

Not being an economist I suspect the above scenario is wrong and we all should trust the Fed and the banks.Add to Technorati Favorites

Bring a Soldier home for Christmas - Tax deductible

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:57:00 +0000

TALLAHASSEE (and anybody else from anywhere else that would like to see this happen)!

The Vietnam/Legacy Vets MC M Chapter and the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter #96 are spearheading an effort to bring at least 6 (more if the community will support it) soldiers home for the holidays.

Their are currently six soldiers identified who based in Germany are currently deployed in Iraq. They have been in Iraq since thanksgiving day, 2008. Some are on their second, third and fourth tours of duty.

The military will fly them back to their stations "IF" they are able to get home. The "IF" is based on their ability to get a ticket home. Tickets home are going for $1200 to $1600 per soldier (and going higher as the holidays get closer) means that if the 6 are to come home they will need YOUR help and like NOW!

It does not matter about how you feel about the war. It is not about the war. It is about standing for those who stand FOR YOU. Yes the economy sucks but THIS IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

CAN YOU THINK OF A BETTER CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO GIVE TO YOURSELF THAN TO GIVE BACK TO THOSE WHO GIVE TO YOU??????

So even if you don't live in the Tallahassee area. If you live anywhere and just want to do a good thing send your Tax Deductible checks or money orders to:

Viet Nam Veterans of America Big Bend Chapter 96, 241 Lake Ella Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32303-5572 VVA 96

‘All our dreams can come true—if we have the courage to pursue them.’ Walt Disney

Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
Thomas Jefferson

Add to Technorati Favorites

ABATE of Floridas Presidents ??? reputation preceeds him

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:26:00 +0000

We threw the question marks in the title because it appears that sometimes James "Doc" Reichenbach is the pres/lobbyist of Florida and sometimes he ain't. However it would appear that some wonder if we can't keep him in his own backyard, as he is slated to appear in Oregon representing NCOM.

From:

Northwest Harley Blog

And speaking of meetings the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM (Region 1)) meeting and seminar is set for Saturday, October 17th in PORTLAND, OR. The venue is the Holiday Inn (Portland Airport) at 8439 NE Columbia Blvd., Portland OR 97220.
Speakers at the daylong event includes:
James “Doc” Reichenbach – Chairman, National Coalition of Motorcyclists — “Freedom of the Road Throughout the Nation

And from a left coaster:

Howdy,
I'm on the left coast and I was wondering, can't someone keep "Doc" in his own yard? We don't need his likes over here in Oregon!
http://nwhog.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/motorcycle-freedom-and-ncom/

Theres a saying that I will paraphrase, goes something like:

Clean your own damn house first!Add to Technorati Favorites

The Cannibalization of the "American" Biker

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Having been used and abused by questionable "Charities," (and by "questionable" we refer to charities with high administrative costs that plague the general public in general and those "charitable endeavors" that spring up over night for which no accounting of the money is ever given) it would seem that Television and Politics will fraction the motorcycling population even further.

The numbers of motorcycling organizations for various causes, including just riding, by this writers observation anyway, have skyrocketed in the past few years while many of the older organizations have lost much of the credibility they once had. This was clearly evidenced by the US Department of Transportations Failure to invite "any representatives" from "any motorcycling organization their driver distraction summit. Preferring instead to invite the likes of "Seventeen Magazine" to speak to an issue that impacts us, motorcycling public, the most.

Admittedly I am a "Son's of Anarchy" fan. I suspect if I ever get the time to watch it, being a pet owner, I will be a "Rescue Ink" fan. Having said that, one must wonder, where will it end?

Will we next see"

BIKER BABYSITTERS: Watch on Friday nights, as big, burly, tattooed Bikers hunt down negligent 14 year old babysitters taking charge and pushing carriages through the rough streets of Detroit.

An exaggeration maybe. I'm not so sure. Hell it might even be good thing for some kids were it to actually happen.

It would appear however that two things are driving the fractionation and ultimately, we fear, balkinization of the American Motorcyclist. Business and Politics.

The business aspect is fairly easy to understand. Harley Davidson understands it quite well in fact.
The reality is a business must make money to stay in business. If your in the business of selling motorcycles, then the company that can set itself apart from the rest will be the one to succeed. This means sell more motorcycles. When you can't sell enough motorcycles sell the image. Then provide a line of clothing, jewelry, ad infinitum to dress the image.

Executed correctly people will always lust after the Ferrari despite the fact the Honda is more reliable.
And if you can't afford the original or the real deal, then you buy the knock off. Thus the shift of major motorcycle manufactures to V-Twin engine MC's that "look and sound like...." Leaving demographics your only enemy if you can not shift with the times.

Business is business and we fault no one for capitalism (we will however continue to take issue with the "Screw it, lets ride campaign. It does America a disservice). It is the political co-opting of the American motorcyclist we are beginning to fear.

The fact that numerous groups are splintering and forming new groups is not surprising. When you consider the failures/errors of execution by the American Motorcyclists Association, various ABATES's, National Coalition of Motorcyclists and Motorcycle Riders Foundation, to name a few to motivate/mobilize their base they appear as dinosaurs unable to get out of the way of themselves.

They confused partisan politics and business with their "mission". They floundered for an image and in the process lost a great deal of what they had. Some regrettably like charities, appear to see motorcyclists as nothing more than a money machine while accomplishing pretty much nothing.

The downside of this lack of "dynamism " is that as the older organizations stagnate and are abandoned, much of what is good about them is left behind. There is a lot of good wisdom in the failures of the "old guard" and the "new guard" will repeat the same mistakes if they fail to heed it.

A large number of motorcyclists, we suspect, are confusing the old school American motorcyclists image of "independence" with a "far right" ideology. Independence does not align itself with partisanship. Independence aligns itself with truths learned on the road. Not many who ride need a new study to learn what it is that is killing us off. We have either seen it or experienced it.

The need to go "political" was necessitated by our desire to remain "independent". Not having "the man" telling you what to do or how to do it if you were not threatening somebody else. It was a defensive move to become political. Not the adoption of any partisan agenda.

"ALL" partisan agendas would restrict somebody's "Freedom".

Partisan agendas lie, cheat, misrepresent the truth and steal, not for freedom, but to perpetuate the agenda. To coalesce power into the hands of a few.

The only way this can occur, on the left or right, is when the peoples need to belong to a group that mirrors their own false belief system outweighs their desire to find the truth. Contempt prior to investigation.

I spent some time recently on the site of a newly formed Motorcycle organization (using the name of an older group) born of the Tax Tea Parties. I was impressed with the enthusiasm and commitment displayed on the site. I was frightened by the amount of misinformation and stolen information (information posted without citing it's origination). Well let me reword that. Misinformation does not frighten me. People who would change the country with it do.

Some examples:

One site has or had two articles written by Bruce Arnold of http://www.ldrlongdistancerider.com/
posted with no citation:

MOTORCYCLISTS SLIGHTED BY USDOT DISTRACTED DRIVING SUMMIT
http://www.ldrlongdistancerider.com/motorcyclists_rights/bikersrights0910-2.
php

and

AN AMERICAN BIKER DEMANDS THE TRUTH ABOUT 9/11

When the webmaster was sent the following:

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 7:18 AM, Bruce Arnold <Bruce@ldrlongdistancerider.com> wrote:
Gentlemen,

This posting on your website...

MOTORCYCLISTS SLIGHTED BY USDOT DISTRACTED DRIVING SUMMIT
http://americanlibertyriders.ning.com/forum/topics/motorcyclists-slighted-by

...does not include our accreditation, and is therefore a plagiarized copy
of this article written by me:

MOTORCYCLISTS SLIGHTED BY USDOT DISTRACTED DRIVING SUMMIT
http://www.ldrlongdistancerider.com/motorcyclists_rights/bikersrights0910-2.
php

I have added both your email addresses to Bruce's Rights Riders List, so you
will receive our future releases first hand. Feel free to post or
re-publish them, so long as you include the full unabridged content of the
article, and the by-line.

Thank You.

The response was:

To: Bruce Arnold
Subject: Re: Notice of Copyright Violation

no problem, we will delete any future posts from your site. It was done by a memeber and not anyone in the admin.

In other words it is not the information that the site did not want to be affiliated with, it was apparently the messenger. Bias is further evidenced by this post from one of their officers:

Someone thinks we are a bunch of PUSSY BIKERS (Read this)
Posted by(name removed) on September 13, 2009 at 11:02am

Send Message Add as Friend View Discussions

(name removed) - one of the left wing infiltrates to our site that was banned (Emphasis ours) has sent me an E-mail I thought you guys would like to call him on. His personal E-mail address is below. feel free to drop him a line and wish him well. As long as we don't have to listen to him here.

A banned member has sent you a message on .(.Name and e-mail address removed)

Pussy bikers couldn't handle it, right fuck wad?

To unban (Name removed) go to:
http://americanlibertyriders.ning.com/main/membership/listBanned

Tags:

Replies are closed for this discussion.

We removed the names as we did not think they were necessary. They can be found by following the links if it turns you on. Our concern is with the message. Considering that there is misinformation on the site then we can only imagine what was being posted that resulted in a banning. Whatever it was it was construed as "left wing" and therefor banned.

We are not singling out this site as we have seen it occur on others. This is just the most recent most blatant we have come across. Were we to find a "left wing" MC site engaging in the same we would mention them also. If you know of one, send us the link.

What we are attempting to illustrate here, is that if any progress is to be made in achieving our "INDEPENDENCE" and embodying either term, "BIKER" or "AMERICAN" then we must take individual responsibility for ferreting out the truth and question each other. We must not be so quick (as tempting as it may be) to trade in one set of bad leaders for another set of bad leaders.

The cannibalization of our lifestyle must stop!

If we are to have a new revolution, then let it be about freedom from partisan politics, embracing true liberty.Add to Technorati Favorites

Chrome Divas Breast Cancer Run, thanks for helping out on two fronts

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:50:00 +0000

Sunday the Chrome Divas of Tallahassee threw their annual Breast Cancer Poker Run. As usual it was well attended and folk had a good time. This run is tradition in the area and is one of the heavier attended runs.

This year there was twist. A few Chrome Divas suggested that we set up at table with some legislative info on bikers rights and safety. And so we did.

And couldn't have been happier with the interest demonstrated by the riders on the run on the information available to them and the numbers that signed our petition for a stiffer penalties bill and e-mail updates.

Done made a person feel good.

There were some who confused us with ABATE. But we went to great lengths to explain to people that we represent no group. We want our actions to be representative of not any one group but of the motorcycling population as whole. A grass roots movement of bikers from all walks of life who are tired of being ignored by the powers that be. No matter what you ride or who you ride with.

We feel it growing, we hope you will too.
Check out some pics here.

A big thanks goes out to Z, TZ, Kim the dogs and Tilex for helping to man the table. Major thanks go out to two Chrome Divas in particular w/o whose help we wouldn't have been able to do it. I don't have permission to use their names in this context, but they know who they are and we know who they are and chances are, you know who they are Add to Technorati Favorites

Westboro Funeral protestor case-Court makes right decision

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:23:00 +0000

The post below contains the most recent court ruling relating to the Westboro Church protest at military funerals.

The ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., held that the signs and writings of the Westboro Baptist Church, which included anti-gay and anti-military messages, are protected by the First Amendment.

Despite the flack this may get me, the court is right!

I have ridden a number of missions with the Patriot Guard whose mission is to shield families from the actions of these wacko's. I personally find their, the Westboro Church protesters, actions to be beyond words, however repugnant and disgusting would be a start. In America I am free to call them the assholes that I believe they are.

But as the first amendment, keeping in mind that this is the FIRST amendment (which would seem to accord it primary importance), protects my right to say the above, it also protects theirs.

The first amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The first amendment also includes "Freedom of assembly":

From the Cornell University Law School: Freedom of expression consists of the rights to freedom of speech, press, assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances, and the implied rights of association and belief. The Supreme Court interprets the extent of the protection afforded to these rights. The First Amendment has been interpreted by the Court as applying to the entire federal government even though it is only expressly applicable to Congress. Furthermore, the Court has interpreted, the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as protecting the rights in the First Amendment from interference by state governments.

It is because of the first amendment that the Patriot Guard and other organizations are able to engage in actions to shield these families from the abuse of the protesters.

It may feel at times that the Constitution of the United States is a like a double edged sword and many would like to change it to suit "their" needs. But the constitution was not designed to protect any one particular segment of society. It was designed to "protect the rights" of all Americans. Despite what some may want, all Americans do not think alike. They have the right to disagree and voice their disagreements.

When the government tries to tweak the First Amendment it is generally with bad result.

After World War I, several cases involving laws limiting speech came before the Supreme Court. The Espionage Act of 1917 imposed a maximum sentence of twenty years for anyone who caused or attempted to cause "insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States." Under the Act, there were over two thousand prosecutions. For instance, one filmmaker was sentenced to ten years imprisonment because his portrayal of British soldiers in a movie about the American Revolution impugned the good faith of an American ally, the United Kingdom. The Sedition Act of 1918 went even further, criminalizing "disloyal," "scurrilous" or "abusive" language against the government.

Remember, the British were our first enemy. How many of us today use abusive language against the Government? Under the Espionage Act of 1917 how many of us today would be in jail?

The court has tinkered with the first amendment on a number of occasions. At one time completely contradicting our Declaration of independence which states:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

When Congress created the Smith act in 1940 it was aimed at communists at the time, however was worded as in earlier rulings as, any speech that constituted a "clear and present danger". Congress was deemed to have the right to prevent this "clear and present danger" speech.

The same congress that has created the Patriot act and did away with Habeas Corpus and (14th ammendment due process. (Tallahassee and other community Red Light running ordinances are good examples as they call for automatic seizure of property). The same congress that has engaged in taxation without representation (remember the British that the court ruled we could not malign?), by taking your tax dollars and giving it to the fat cat bankers. Or gave your money to other people to buy cars with, i.e. "Cash For Clunkers".

The court began attempting to correct some infringements on the rights of speech in 1969 when it ruled in Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 44

[Our] decisions have fashioned the principle that the constitutional guarantees of free speech and free press do not permit a State to forbid or proscribe advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.

Which still, in our mind, conflicts with the Declaration of Independence.

Probably the wisest and closest to the constitutional meaning of the First Amendment interpretation was made by
Justice William J. Brennan, Jr when he asserted in 1989 in relation to Texas v. Johnson, 491:

"if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable."

Currently a somewhat disturbing practice has developed wherein "Free Speech Zones" are established
effectively isolating protesters from those whom they choose to protest against. This Practice was widely practiced/expanded during the Bush (II) presidency and is subject to various lawsuits. IT is somewhat Orwellian in nature. One can picture the British rounding up the "Minutemen" putting them in cages and telling them, O.K. holler the British are coming all you like now.

The Westboro Church and others like them are the price we pay for our own liberties and freedoms.
It is a slippery slope as the Supreme Court has learned, when one starts playing around with the constitution and starts dictating who can say what, when and where. There is an imminent danger clause in Free speech rulings. Can that apply in these instances. Apparently the court has decided not. The court is relying on Americans to take a part in protecting free speech.

Does that mean that we can not engage in our own freedom of speech and assembly? NO! We can do as the Patriot Guard and others have been doing. I suspect more creativity could be employed to be more effective. I believe we are duty bound and morally obligated to respect and honor the soldier who stands for our liberties when so many of us will not.

Part of that honor and respect is remembering:

The American Soldier is duty bound to uphold the constitution of the United States. He/she does so
that you and I might disagree and voice disagreements.

Yes the Westboro Church members are disgusting and we should continue to do what we do.

However this begs the bigger question: Westboro Church members are nothing more than irritating mosquitoes, what are we as "Patriots" doing to address the larger dishonor and disrespect our servicemen are subject to?

What are we doing regarding the corrupt politicians that send our soldiers into harms way over lies and oil?

What are we doing regarding the the still unaccounted for POW's/MIA's that the corrupt politicians would forget?

What are we doing to insure that the humiliation and sub par medical care that the soldier gets in the Walter Reeds around the country stops?

In other words, it's not difficult to stand against a few punks with signs. It would appear that it is extremely difficult for the general populace to find the balls to stand against the government that perverts the very constitution the soldier dies to protect!

So yes, the Westboro Church protesters make me sick. The silent sheeple that bow their heads and do nothing, that would break into a line of mourners on the way to a soldiers funeral, that never served their country yet sit in their easy chair with a beer watching a football game when a dead soldier comes home, that see the injustice yet feign blindness, that claim they belong to some church and absolve themselves from any responsibility by regurgitating crap about not being concerned with earthly matters as their reward will be in heaven, yeah you know who you are. Yes, the Westboro Church members make me sick, the others who hide in Patriots clothing make me engage in projectile vomiting!Add to Technorati Favorites

Federal Appeals Court Says Funeral protest are legal

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:56:00 +0000

Westboro Church Protesters

September 25, 2009
Baltimore Sun

RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a fundamentalist Kansas church's protest outside the funeral of a Westminster Marine killed in Iraq is protected speech and did not violate the privacy of the service member's family, reversing a lower court's $5 million award.

The ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., held that the signs and writings of the Westboro Baptist Church, which included anti-gay and anti-military messages, are protected by the First Amendment. The Topeka-based congregation has protested at military funerals across the country

"Notwithstanding the distasteful and repugnant nature of the words being challenged in these proceedings, we are constrained to conclude that the defendants' signs and [what it has on its Web sites] are constitutionally protected," Circuit Court Judge Robert B. King wrote in the majority opinion.

Margie Jean Phelps, an attorney for Westboro and the daughter of the church's leader, said "it was an absolute shame to have a little church put on trial because of your religious beliefs."

"Everyone knows that we didn't disrupt a funeral," said Phelps, daughter of the Rev. Fred W. Phelps Sr. "Our speech, on our signs and our Web sites, is public speech. It's not on private matters. It's on public issues, so it's protected."

Sean E. Summers, an attorney for Albert Snyder, of York, Pa., the dead Marine's father, said he will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The most troubling fact is that it essentially leaves grieving families helpless," said Summers. "There are a lot people sending their kids over to war, and unfortunately, they're not all coming back. You would think that at least we could offer them dignity and respect."

Summers said that Albert Snyder would not comment on the decision. At trial, Snyder testified, "I had one chance to bury my son, and they took the dignity away from it."

Fred Phelps, two other adults and four children picketed the March 10, 2006, funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, holding signs that said, "Thank God for dead soldiers," and wrote on the church's Web site that Snyder's parents "taught Matthew to defy his creator."

Matthew Snyder, a 2003 graduate of Westminster High School, was 20 years old and had been in the war zone for less than a month when he was killed in a vehicle accident in Anbar province.

Westboro church members believe soldiers are being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as punishment for what they say is the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. The church has about 75 members, most of whom are related to Phelps.

Albert Snyder sued Fred Phelps and two of his daughters, Rebecca Phelps-Davis and Shirley Phelps-Roper, for invasion of privacy and emotional distress.

In October 2007, a federal jury in Baltimore awarded the father nearly $11 million, ruling that the family's privacy had been invaded. In February 2008, a federal judge reduced the damages from $10.9 million to $5 million, citing constitutional concerns of appropriateness.

"The amount was set with a goal, and the goal was to silence us," said Margie Jean Phelps. "In this country, you don't get to claim damage over words you don't agree with. ... Because we've trained a nation of crybabies doesn't mean we change the law."Add to Technorati Favorites

You find the neatest stuff on a police forum

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Such as discussion as to what might be used as probale cause for a stop?

Answer:

F.S.S.320.0607 Replacement license plates, validation decal, or mobile home sticker.--

(1) Any law enforcement officer or department license and registration inspector may at any time inspect a license plate or validation decal for proper display and legibility as prescribed by chapter 316. A damaged or defaced plate or decal may be required to be replaced.

Ride Free ya hear!Add to Technorati Favorites

Notes From Distracted Driving Summit by Lynn Wesley

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:24:00 +0000

We will only be excerpting parts of Lynn Wesleys notes on the Department of Transportation's Driver Distraction summit held 9/30 thru 10/1. We are limiting our excerpts to cell phone use as we are operating from the assumption that only complete idiots text and drive at the same time. They can be read in there entirety here Part1 and part 2 on Bruce and Rc's Motorcycle Forum.

Day 1:

LMW note: Please be advised that this is simply the notes I took from listening to the first day of the summit. I have made no attempt to draw any conclusions, just to try to record as accurately as I could (and that is lacking in areas) the information that was disimminated. An interesting note, was that the word "motorcycle" was only mentioned two times by the gentleman who represented Utah Mass Transit. There were some interestinjg graphs that I was not able to capture and will note so in italics where necessary. Hopefully they will become available at some later date. Please forgive any misspellings in names or organizations. The webcast was a decent quality, but not perfect. Nor am I.And a final note, for some reason, my spell check isn’t working

Ray LaHood, Secretary -U.S. Department of Transportation
Distracted driving has become the new "menace to society". It is an epedemic and distresses me greatly personally as well as the nation’s cheif eecutive on safety. We have included a pannel of teens because we think their views are extremely important . We met with serveral victims of distracted driving incidents who’s stories are heartbreaking. Introduced Greg Zaffke, II (Anita Zaffke’s son) along with two others who were victimized by distracted drivers. Nearly 8,000 have been killed, ½ million injured involving use of a hand held device. Hand held cell phones are not the only distraction, We can include iPods, video games, Blackberries, etc., and it goes beyond usage by private citizens. A generateion ago, there was a blind eye towards seat belt usage and drunk driving. We need to turn society’s attitude the same way against distracted driving.

Bruce Magladry, Direrector - Office of Highway Safety National Transportation Safety Board Used the data from the National Crash Data from the FARS Repeot. In 2008, 5870 fatalities occured, which accounted for 16% of all fatalities, up from 12% in 2004. 11% involved in those fatal crashes were reproted to be distracted driving at the time of the crash. 39% of these distracted drivers were under 30 years of age. It is a safe assumption that the occurance of distracted driving is underreported. According to the GES (General Established System), in 2008, 515,000 people were injured in crashes involving distracted driving which equates to 22% of all crash related injuries. The data from FARS and GES is obtained from police reports, which have various holes in them, but are working to more unify that reproting system.

Kristin Backstrom, Senior Manager - AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
Use of cell phones have increased every year. For example, senior citizens in 2003 used cells at a rate of 1 in 10 and that has now increased to 1 in 5. Four out of fiveof those involved in the self-reporting said they regularly use cells while driving and this spans all age groups. This is a broad reaching behavior that will be beyond challenging to change. Every 13 minutes a person dies on our nation’s highways.

John Inglish, General Manager - Utah Transit Authority
We still rank way below motorcycle accidents. In fact we ought to be concerned with the growth of motorcycling. (LMW note: This was the ONLY mention of motorcycles throughout the entire day!

Questions/Discussions
Do note that hands free is not risk free. Judicious drivers engage in conversation. Banning hands held may subtly imply that hands free are safe and therefore lessen judicious behavior.

In general, most people think they are better than the average driver.

Hands free give false sense of security. According to the Carnagie Mellon study, 38% of the cognative skills go right to use device when hands free are used.

Dr. Tom Dingus, Director - Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Presented findings of a studies of Large sacale Naturalistic Driving consisting of over 600 drivers who operated thier own vehicles equipted with specialty instruments and numerous videos, over seven million miles, and 100,000 driving hours and collected this data. It found that human behavior and performance accounted for 90% of crashes, which consisted of impairment, inattention, drowsiness, and judgement related error.

Research recommendations: Primary law banning hand held wireless devices, (cells, mp3s, an headset with non true hand held); Significant fine, points and punishments for violation. This would exclude emergency communication. Most of the countries outside of the U.S. already have this

Dr. William Horrey, Chair - Surface Transportation Technical Group, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and Research Scientist Center for Behavioral Sciences,Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety Focus on conversation – cognitive aspects. Inattentional blindness – Incomplete or failure to process information that has been fixated. Implications for looked, but didn’t see conclusions . Failure to process information due to distraction.

Day two:
Senator Robert Menendez, NJ
The advent of cell phone usage has surpassed the problem of drinking and driving.

Major David Salmon, Director - Traffic Services Division, NY State Police Actively involved in enforcement of nation’s first cell phone ban in NY. As member of Highway Commission of International Chiefs of Police, we really need and appreciate voice at this table. Oversees traffic safety and we have seen vast expansion since the nation’s first law was in place. Not only to limit cell phones and distracted driving, because soon such laws ill be antiquated. A more encompassing approach to distracted driving is necessary to give law enforcement the tools they need. 81,000 tickets were issue last year accounting for 81% of all tickets last year, but that is effective enough. This is also true of every single safety threat. Last year record low fatalities, not coincidentially record high enforcement. Secondary laws are not vigorously enforced. Laws must also be clear as well to be enforced well. Officer must believe it is dangerous as well as illegal to have effective enforcement. What is needed is the statutory authority that permits driving and driving Page 3
only as the primary objective of the driver. All else is distraction. Continious 365 day a year, not simple campaigns are what is effective. We can’t think of each social ill on an individual basis, we must commit to all on a 24 – 7 basis. There is also a financial burden with implemention of said laws. A well funded project has a far greater chance of success.

Panelist – while coming into the summit this morning, I counted 21 out of 40 drivers on K street on cell phones even though DC has a ban. His wife recieved a ticket on 21 April for the same thing. I remember the date well because the Concilman who introduced the ban, also recieved a ticket for same on the same date as his wife.

"Our impression of the rest of the summit was that it was anti-texting and anti young. This summit in our mind is nothing more but an example of how putting a bunch of bureaucrats in the same room is akin to taking your money out of your pocket and setting it on fire. Actual cell phone conversations were minimally touched on and motorcycles less than that. Time to take things into our own hands! Thanks to Lynn Wesley for her notes."Add to Technorati Favorites

Some folk will be passing out info at the Chrome Divas Poker Run Sunday

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Chrome Divas Breast Cancer Poker Run - 8th Annual (# 13252)

04-Oct-2009 (Sunday)

Join the Divas for the 8th Annual Breast Cancer Poker Run. All proceeds benefit the Sharon Ewing Walker Breast Health Center and A Woman's Place. Registration starts at HD at 9am. First bike out at 9:30, Last bike out at 10:30am. Last Bike in at The Moon at 1:30 pm. Lunch from WingStop is included. Come for the Charity - Stay for the Party - Prizes, 50/50, Buck for Booze, Live Band, Lunch, Cash Bar!

tallahasseefl.chromedivas.com

Some folk will be there handing out information as to how motorcyclists can get involved.

The solution Tallahassee did not choose over Red Light Cameras

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:37:00 +0000

Be, the first one on the block, to have your kid come home in a box...... Country Joe and the Fish.

Study: Longer Yellows Reduce Crashes (Texas Transportation Institute)
The Texas Transportation Institute shows that engineering improvements are an effective alternative to cameras.

Texas Transportation Institute logoThe Texas Transportation Institute examined concerns that red light cameras were being used by cities that had not first exhausted available engineering alternatives such as improving signal timing and visibility. They studied individual police accident reports from 181 intersection approaches across three Texas cities over three years to determine the most effective solutions for problem intersections.

The study found that improving signal visibility reduced violations 25 percent. Other changes could net between 18 and 48 percent reductions. Yet they found when the yellow signal was 1 second shorter than what the standard ITE timing formula specifies as a minimum, red light violations jumped 110%. Adding an additional second to the ITE minimum yellow yielded 53% reduction in violations, producing the greatest benefit of all the factors studied (2-6). When safety is the main concern, preventing crashes is more important than reducing violations. Yellow signal timing again proved most effective in reducing crashes. An extra second yielded a 40 percent collision reduction.

The study also found that the vast majority of red light camera tickets are issued within the first second a light is red -- in fact, the average ticket is issued when the light has been red for half a second or less. Yet right-angle crashes, which account for the majority of red-light related collisions, "with one exception, all of the right-angle crashes occurred after 5 seconds or more of red" (5-16). In other words, tickets are being issued primarily for split-second violations where collisions are not occurring.

Full study available in 1.3mb PDF format file.

Key Statistic:
The data in figure 2-11 indicate that there is a trend toward fewer red-light related crashes when the observed yellow is longer than the computed duration. (2-22)

An increase in yellow duration of 1.0s is associated with an MF [crash frequency] of about 0.6, which corresponds to a 40 percent reduction in crashes. (2-20)

Article Excerpt:

It is also likely that there is a point of diminishing returns where further increases in enforcement effort bring little additional safety benefit. (3-2)

If the frequency of violations is excessive, the violations are most likely caused by congestion, dense traffic streams, or conditions that make it difficult for drivers to stop. (5-6)

Source: PDF File Development of Guidelines for Treating Red-Light Running (Texas Transportation Institute, 9/1/2004)

AND with pictures, charts and 8x5 glossy pictures with a paragraph on the back of each one (sorry Arlo):
http://www.thenewspaper.com/rlc/reports/rlcreport.asp

Red light cameras in Tallahassee will kill motorcyclists

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Ever hear the screeching of brakes behind you while stopped at a light and look into your rear view mirror to see a Cement Truck on you ass? I have. Well soon in Tallahassee, besides having the opportunity to get taken out by every selfish, self-centered cell phone yaking, texting inconsiderate Son of a Bitch out there, you will also have the opportunity to be run over by the same.

After all you ever see how many folk in Tallahassee run red lights. Now to avoid a ticket you get to slam on your brakes in front of one.

It is once again government officials doing every thing they can do to "fix" a problem (as long as their is money in for them) without really addressing the problem. The Problem is, ta da.........

Distracted, and for those of you with less sensitivity, ASSHOLE drivers whose only concern for your life..... Ummm excuse me, they have no concern for your life. They perform aggravated assault on a daily basis and we do "zilch" to stop them.

So looks like Tallahassee is getting red light cameras, we wrote a comprehensive post about red light cameras below. But it may be to long for those who prefer their news in two second sound bites (which is why America is full of people shouting about shit they have no clue about).

So let us show you how they deal with cameras in Europe:

“Motorists Against Detection, the vigilante anti-speed camera group have announced a summer of MADness which will see them target for destruction all speed cameras in the UK. It’s now going to be a period of zero tolerance against all speed cameras, said their campaigns director Capt Gatso.”

And for some links:

A 2008 University of South Florida report found:
"Comprehensive studies conclude cameras actually increase crashes and injuries, providing a safety argument not to install them.... public policy should avoid conflicts of interest that enhance revenues for government and private interests at the risk of public safety."
Read a summary
Full copy, 80k pdf

A 2007 Virginia Department of Transportation study found:
"The cameras were associated with an increase in total crashes... The aggregate EB results suggested that this increase was 29%... The cameras were associated with an increase in the frequency of injury crashes... The aggregate EB results suggested an 18% increase, although the point estimates for individual jurisdictions were substantially higher (59%, 79%, or 89% increases) or lower (6% increase or a 5% decrease)."
Read a summary
Full copy, 1mb pdf

A 2006 Winnipeg, Canada city audit found:
"The graph shows an increase of 58% in the number of traffic collisions from 2003 to 2004.... Contrary to long-term expectations, the chart shows an increase in claims at each level of damage with the largest percentage increase appearing at the highest dollar value."
Read a summary
Full copy, 541k pdf

A 2005 Virginia DOT study found:
"The cameras are correlated with an increase in total crashes of 8% to 17%."
Read a summary
Full copy, 1.7mb pdf

In 2005, The Washington Post found:
"The analysis shows that the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled, from 365 collisions in 1998 to 755 last year. Injury and fatal crashes climbed 81 percent, from 144 such wrecks to 262. Broadside crashes, also known as right-angle or T-bone collisions, rose 30 percent, from 81 to 106 during that time frame."
Read a summary
Full article on the Post website

A 2004 North Carolina A&T University study found:
"Our findings are more pessimistic, finding no change in angle accidents and large increases in rear-end crashes and many other types of crashes relative to other intersections."
Read a summary
Full copy, 1.7mb pdf

A 2003 Ontario Ministry of Transportation study found:
"Compared to the average number of reported collisions occurring in the before period, the average yearly number of reported collisions increased 15.1 per cent in the after period."
Read a summary
Full copy, 1.5mb pdf

A 1995 Australian Road Research Board study found:
"The results of this study suggest that the installation of the RLC at these sites did not provide any reduction in accidents, rather there has been increases in rear end and adjacent approaches accidents on a before and after basis and also by comparison with the changes in accidents at intersection signals."
Read a summary
Full copy, 2.4mb pdf

A 1995 Monash University (Australia) study found:
"a simple correlation analysis was undertaken for red light running data in the current study and revealed no significant relationship between the frequency of crashes at RLC and non-RLC sites and differences in red light running behaviour."
Read a summary

Related Reports and Studies

The importance of the yellow warning signal time in reducing the instances of red light running is found in the following reports:

A 2004 Texas Transportation Institute study found:
"An increase in yellow duration of 1.0 seconds is associated with a [crash frequency] of about 0.6, which corresponds to a 40 percent reduction in crashes."
Read a summary
Full copy, 1.5mb pdf

A 2001 report by the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives found:
"The changes in the yellow signal timing regulations have resulted in the inadequate yellow times. And these inadequate yellow times are the likely cause of almost 80 percent of red light entries."
Full version with summary

Note the last two. You wanna ride free???? THEN FREAKING ACT TO BE FREEAdd to Technorati Favorites!

While Tallahassee jumps on gravy train: Red Light Camera's will kill you!

RGnostic@gmail.com (rc) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:09:00 +0000

Tallahassee Democrat has run a long story, which as usual is full of pablum and little substance, on the new Red light cameras to be used to catch red light runners at the beginning of the year.

We are not surprised that Tallahassee is the next city to jump on the gravy train. After all they do have to make some money to cover the consequences of the death of Rachel Hoffman killed after being delivered into the hand of drug dealers by detectives. Which still leaves us "detecting" a very fishy odor.

However it would appear that, as usual, greed has won out over common sense, which is going to come back and bite Tallahassee right on the ass. And we can't think of a better ass to get snake bit either.

So Tallahasseans get ready once again to pay for the mistakes, whoops excuse me, the ignorance of your Leaders.

Cause here's the gig:

As the Tallahassee Democrat reports:

The city of Tallahassee still plans to install red-light cameras by the beginning of next year despite civil lawsuits filed against five Florida cities that are using the devices.

The lawsuits have been filed against Pembroke Pines; Temple Terrace, a Tampa suburb; Orlando; Miami Gardens; and Aventura, a Miami suburb. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are trying to get class-action certification in at least two of the lawsuits, and the city of Tallahassee could wind up in the litigation. If the plaintiffs prevail, they could be reimbursed for fines they've paid, said Tallahassee City Attorney Jim English.
"We are concerned," English said. "You just don't like to be involved in litigation. We'd obviously like to avoid that."

But, he said, the benefits from the red-light cameras are worth pursuing.
The cameras are expected to raise $800,000 in their first year of use. Some residents aren't happy that the city is turning to the cameras as a revenue source.

"This is all about revenue and nothing about safety," said Nick Providakis, 35.

Note that Tallahassee could wind up being a litigant in a class action lawsuit. That will cost money, lots of money to fight the lawsuit. Even more should they lose and have to return the fines collected
and eat the cost of the cameras and the the time spent having them monitored (we must note here that we do not know the specifics of the contract with ACS State & Local Solutions).

What we do know is the following:

"Legal opinions indicate that automated enforcement in the state of Florida remains illegal," Redflex Traffic Systems explained in an Australian Securities Exchange filing ( view statement, page 6, 1.8mb PDF). "Some competitors have proceeded at risk with early programs."

Found here: Florida: Lawsuits Challenge Red Light Camera Legality
Redflex is in the business of installing Red light systems. Interesting that they would arrive at that conclusion aye?

and why would Redlight systems say such a thing:

"The decision to allow or not allow the use of Red Light Running Cameras is determined by the Florida Legislature and Governor Crist," wrote Deputy State Traffic Operations Engineer Mark C. Wilson. "Current Florida Law does not allow the use of Red Light Running Cameras for the enforcement of a traffic violation. The Florida Department of Transportation does not allow the use of Red Light Running Cameras on any of our intersections on the State Highway System. We do know that some Florida cities are using Red Light Running Cameras for enforcement of a violation of a local city ordinance."

and need we be reminded that the individuals right to due process is in question:

From the Democrat: Here's how the program would work: The cameras would take two images of cars running red lights, which would be reviewed by reserve Tallahassee police officers. If they determine a violation occurred, a ticket will be mailed to the owner of the vehicle — even if the owner wasn't behind the wheel at the time. (emphasis ours)

And the legal interpretation of that little conundrum as per the director of the City of Public Works:

"That's what's got some people concerned," said Gabriel Menendez, director of city Public Works. "But you are responsible for your car."

O.K. Mr. Menendez? Mom and Pop let kid borrow the car. Kid runs red light. Mom and Pop get a ticket/fine fo sitting at home watching T.V. Kid, perpetrator of the crime, gets off scott free????????

It would appear that MR. Menedez is a little light on the constitution also with what may be the second scariest part of this "ordinance":

The ticket wouldn't count against someone's driving record. If the violator doesn't pay within a year, a lien would be placed against the vehicle owner's property.

Yep, revolutions have been fought over the above.

Note however I said second scariest part of the ordinance. The scariest part of the ordinance is of particular concern to motorcyclists. RED LIGHT CAMERAS INCREASE FATALITIES!!!

5/31/2005

Red Light Camera Studies Roundup
A collection of red light camera studies over the last decade shows red light cameras have serious side-effects.

Over the past decade, a number of studies have examined the use of red light cameras. The most relevant studies examined the devices in light of changes in traffic and engineering conditions made at intersections during the study period and pulled actual police reports to examine the particular causes of each collision. The following studies are the most comprehensive available:

A 2005 Virginia DOT study found:
"The cameras are correlated with an increase in total crashes of 8% to 17%."
Read a summary
Full copy, 1.7mb pdf

Related Reports and Studies

The importance of the yellow warning signal time in reducing the instances of red light running is found in the following reports:

Check out the last two links. Need we say more Tallahassee than, SCREWED AGAIN. Who will be the first to die as a result of the actions of the commision and the inaction of the people?

Want to check out a few of our three pages of posts on Red Light Camera's (cause obvioulsy we have been watching this more than the Democrat) click here.

Now are we are going to send this to the Tallahassee Democrat with the hopes that they may look a little further into the subject as opposed to regurgitating the pablum of local officials. We will not hold our breath.Add to Technorati Favorites