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KMA is planning a trip to visit our Congressional Delegation July 28th – 30th

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:47:01 +0000

A lot will be happening in Washington DC shortly and the KMA is planning a trip to visit our Congressional Delegation July 28th – 30th. If you have some time off work and can go to DC for a few days please let me know. We would be glad to have you. Just send me an email to president@kmakba.com and I can give you some more details about the trip. We will be there to discuss HR 1587 concerning the youth ATV’s and dirt bikes, EPA emission programs under consideration, smart growth bills currently up for consideration which may limit where or when you could ride, HR 1207 audit the fed bill and more.

There are lots of bills up for consideration which can have many negative impacts on motorcycles. The main one being discussed is the new health care regime that is being pushed by the Obama administration. Just on the surface it appears to be a bad idea to me in that what government run program have you ever seen work well? Just ask the folks who go to the VA for their health care how well they like it and how much red tape they go through to get it. Just consider this, the federal government took over a whorehouse in Nevada several years back due to nonpayment of taxes. They tried to run it and shortly after it went bankrupt. If they can’t even make money and run a whorehouse effectively then how are they gonna run our hospitals.

But that is just the surface of the issue. We have already seen in the hearings for this program that the feds think they can save $50 per person per year for every pound they were to lose for those that are overweight. If the government is in charge of your health care will they then be able to tell you, we will not pay all or part of the costs unless you lose 10 pounds or quit smoking or drinking? Will they be able to say you are not covered since you were not wearing a helmet when that other driver t-boned you from the side street. Will they be able to say you are not covered because you weren’t wearing a seat belt or speeding or whatever else they want to make up? Will they limit your healthcare if you go to the drag strip and race on the weekends or ride horseback, ski, fly your own small plane or other hobby? We have already seen the start of this in the private sector and have been trying to address it for some time now. The whole social burden theory plays right into this for whichever group they may wish to attack whether it be motorcycles, horseback riders, smokers, drinkers, overweight people, etc…. I personally am going to ask my Congressmen to oppose this program and would like to hear from you if the KMA as an organization should take up banner as well and oppose it also. There may be benefits but in my personal opinion the loss of my freedoms and the coercion that can be imposed by the federal government far outweigh any benefits I can see. The more the feds take over industry after industry the farther down the path of socialism we go. Please let me know what you think the KMA should do on this issue.

Another resolution you may find interesting HJRes 5 would abolish the 22nd amendment which limits the President of the US to just 2 terms. It was introduced by a Representative from New York Rep. SERRANO.

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual… (Introduced in House)

HJ 5 IH

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

January 6, 2009

Mr. SERRANO introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

`Article–

`The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.’.

Check out this video concerning the sovereignty of the US and the Second Amendment.

If the player doesn’t come through here is the link for it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9X2VbhSH9o&feature=player_embedded

Warren has been in the biker rights movement for some time and has some great articles from time to time on various subjects. Hope you like this one.

Jay

U.S. House Committee Moves Surface Transportation Bill

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:39:48 +0000

MRF E-MAIL NEWS Motorcycle Riders Foundation

236 Massachusetts Ave. NE

Suite 510

Washington, DC 20002-4980

202-546-0983 (voice)

202-546-0986 (fax)

http://www.mrf.org (website)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

2 July 2009

Contact: Jeff Hennie, MRF Vice President of Government Relations jeff@mrf.org

U.S. House Committee Moves Surface Transportation Bill

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) has learned that, with little pomp and even less circumstance, the Unites States House of Representatives subcommittee on Highways and Transit voice voted the Surface Transportation Bill on to the full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (HTIC). The 800-page bill lays out a plan for revamping the nation’s highway systems and safety programs not seen in the last few decades. The spending bill, which is yet to receive a number or name – and even more importantly a price tag – is mammoth.

The Highway Trust Fund (HTF) will be out of money 6 weeks before the fund was supposed to be tapped out. Future predictions for the HTF, which is funded through a national gas tax, are bleak. With more fuel-efficient cars and record-breaking gas prices, Americans have done the unthinkable the past few years – buy less gas. That conundrum will leave the HTF with about $250 billion to be generated over the next 6 years. Congressman Jim Oberstar, Chairman of the HTIC, wants to spend $500 billion. Talks between the House, Senate and White House have completely broken down. Oberstar would like to raise the gas tax, and both the Senate and the White House shot that down immediately. This stalemate will likely delay the bill significantly; some say well into 2012. At the same time, it could move quickly, but that’s not likely.

The bill does have some motorcycle-specific provisions, the lion’s share of which are very positive. The MRF has been meeting with the committee staff writing the bill for the past few years to ensure that motorcyclists benefit from the legislation. For the first time, the highway safety funds obligate a percentage that can only be used for motorcycle safety programs. Depending on the percentage (all financial details at this point are to be determined), the motorcycle safety community could see a huge infusion of federal cash.

There is one provision that the MRF will be aggressively working to remove. In one section of the bill, some rules are laid out for Public Private Partnerships (PPP). PPPs are stretches of toll road that a community leases to a private sector partner. The partner pays the leasing government up front and in turn gets to keep all the tolls for the length of the lease. The city of Chicago leased a toll road for 99 years to a private company for $1.8 billion in 2005. The provision of concern gives the private sector partner the power to request from the Secretary of Transportation a ban on motorcycles from the road. The private partner must certify that the presence of motorcycles is causing a safety hazard.

The Secretary must approve the request. Current law allows for the same situation, but gives the requesting power to the state agency, not a private for-profit corporation.

Public Private Partnerships have fallen out of favor with many municipalities and individuals, but this section is still of grave concern. It’s troubling to think that roads built with federal tax dollars could exclude motorcycles. Precedent has been set in our favor in the past; convincing Congress will be our task.

The MRF will keep you informed on the movement of the bill and of the motorcycle-specific provisions in the bill.

Tennessee Tyranny: Fingerprinting During Routine Traffic Stops

admin — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:42:18 +0000

According to the folks from CMT/ABATE of Tennessee this bill was pulled and is apparently dead. We have left it here in order to let everyone know the audacity of these people. Also, you can look for this type of bill to come up in other states and possibly as a federal bill.

Tennessee Tyranny: Fingerprinting During Routine Traffic Stops

Posted: 11 Jun 2009 10:15 AM PDT

By Eric Peters, Automotive Columnist
Now they’ll be fingerprinting us for jaywalking. Or “speeding.” Just about any (formerly minor) traffic violation.
Beginning in the once-fine state of Tennessee. Southerners, it appears, are becoming just as statist as the Yankee carpetbaggers they used to (rightly) despise.
Two bills have made their way through the rancid colon of the TN House and Senate, HB2220 and SB2153, respectively, that would “… authorize(s) use of fingerprints as (a) form of acknowledgement, in lieu of, or in addition to, a person’s signature for citations and certain other notices and documents.” (See http://www.capitol.tn.gov and type in the bill numbers.)
In plain language, when you get pulled over or stopped by a cop for some trivial reason such as doing 5 mph over the limit in a Radar Trap Zone, the cop — at his discretion — may compel you, the offender, to submit to being fingerprinted “in lieu of, or in addition to” your signature on the summons.
Tennessee’s tyranny is the first such action of its kind in these forcibly united States — and has aroused a popular groundswell of resentment and resistance. Understandably.
Fingerprinting starts with an “F” — because generally, the accepted practice has been that only felons, or those accused of committing felonies, get inked. Fingerprints go into a national criminal database, so that in the future it will be easier and simpler to track and identify the activities of felons.
But jaywalkers, U-turn bandits and speeders?
Hell, under TN’s new cornpone jackbootery, a person could be fingerprinted merely for spitting on the sidewalk, in violation of town ordinance Barney Fife 5, Section 3a.
It would be humorous, maybe a little bit, if it weren’t so obnoxious to common sense and civil liberties.
Comments?

Nonsense Masquerading as Science: The Motorcycle Crash Causation Study

admin — Sun, 24 May 2009 21:48:59 +0000

By Warren Woodward

“The single most important development in motorcycle safety in the U.S.”, “undertaken by the Oklahoma Transportation Center, an independent and well-respected research facility” – these are the kinds of words used to describe or, more accurately, hype the motorcycle crash causation study which was authorized by Congress four years ago. Anything government does always costs more than originally promised and this study is no exception. Initial funding was not nearly enough so the project has languished for lack of funds.

The cost overrun – already almost double its initial projected cost – should be a red flag, but instead of reevaluating the situation and abandoning this boondoggle, its private sector promoters, only want it more, even though by law they are picking up half the tab. For example, the American Motorcyclist Association, one of the boondoggle’s chief cheerleaders, is dunning its members with a “Fuel the Fund” campaign. This article will demonstrate why “Fund the Fools” would be a more apt slogan.

First of all, the Oklahoma Transportation Center is not “independent”. Their website reveals that they are an amalgam of state-sponsored interests – three state universities, Oklahoma DOT, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, and several businesses that, like the Center itself, rely on state and federal money. Heaven help us if that is what passes for “independent” nowadays. And “well-respected”? Maybe by the interests involved, as in any mutual admiration society, but not by me, or probably not by you either after you read about their bogus methodology.

Some 123,000 motorcycles are involved in accidents yearly, yet only 900 accidents will be studied. How can anything realistic be derived from studying less than 1% of the total? Obviously, the results can be skewed if all involve speeding or all involve DUI or all involve ROW violations. If a variety of accidents are studied, how is it known if the variety is an accurate sample reflecting all types of accidents?

And just what are “all types of accidents”? Some situations are similar but no two accidents are identical. All it takes is one variable to make a situation different. That one variable could be the fatal variable, and it could be something unmeasurable like the rider’ thoughts.

Any accident being studied will be investigated thoroughly. So thoroughly that the current cost estimate per accident is $10,000. Even allowing that as reasonable, nonsense dons the mask of science when, after investigating the accident, researchers then attempt to create what they term “controls”. Controls will be two other riders doing the same thing as the rider who crashed. Those riders will then be interviewed to determine why they did not crash (assuming they did not) and why the initial rider did crash.

This so-called “methodology” is absurd on the face of it and should set off anyone’s BS detector. No two riders are alike, and no two situations are the same. Thus, there is no “control”. A control in an experiment is an absolute to which something else can be compared. There is no absolute here and never will be as long as humans are involved.

For example, let’s say someone crashes because they are speeding in a turn but someone else speeds in the turn and makes it. What does this tell us? Only that one rider is better than another. But wait; even that is not true. Maybe the one who crashed had something go wrong, either with himself – his health, whatever – or with his machine. If the guy died or his machine got totaled beyond recognition, we may not ever know what exactly went wrong. And even if he lived, his assessment of what went wrong could be incorrect. Maybe the guy got distracted for a second by something other riders on the same route would not have to deal with – a personal problem, an attractive woman in a mini-skirt, who knows? So the cause may not have been speed at all – even if the rider was speeding.

The point is, there are too many unknowns and too many variables to quantify scientifically. These are people being studied, not robots. What we will have with this study is costly nonsense masquerading as science. And costly it is. Multiplying $10,000 per accident by 900 accidents equals $9 million. And this is now being called the bare minimum!

The vast amount of money wasted brings up another unfortunate point. The more this thing costs, the more it will be lauded with high-sounding words like “extensive”, “exhaustive” and “landmark”. Gullible fools impressed by those words, by large dollar amounts and names with PhD after them will think, “This is a multi-million dollar study done by experts. It must be right.” But it won’t be.

Editor’s Note: Rider Warren Woodward has been debunking popular mythology since at least 1960 when, after staying up all night Christmas Eve, he stood before his second grade class and announced there was no Santa Claus.