Some samplings of Blow Back as a result of what is some perceive to be an as kissing party at Rosenker, NTSB, MRF, NCOM/AIM/ABATE of Florida's Lobbyists run for GLORY. To get up to speed, should you choose to see Letter to MotorcyleRiders Foundation and National Transportation Safety BoardFrom Girl Geek. Delawares own Curmudgeon posted on B&R's here: This press release sounds so familiar. It was a bunch of good-old back-slapping boys trading war stories and other non-essential minutiae for a bit, all smiles and good cheer.
Let me give you an analogy and why I have a really bad taste in my mouth about this.
I work for a quasi-governmental agency. We deal with the State, the Feds, and local subcontractors (i.e. recipients of state and federal funds) all the time. The organization I work for is an administrator of the funds.
Now and then certain segments will get together and have a pow-wow and each department or agency will give a ubiquitous Powerpoint presentation full of graphs that no one understands and mouth the feel-good positiveness that everyone wants to hear. Since I work in an administrative capacity (design and implementation of information systems), I have contact with every person, every department, and every agency. I hear all their problems, all their issues.
So, when one of the department heads stands up and says everything is hunky-dory and how positive they feel about the future, and how great everything is going I ….. well I kind of feel like Bruce in his first reaction to the MRF report.
I know everything is FUBAR. Pretty much everyone in the room knows everything is FUBAR. No hard questions are asked, the speaker is applauded, and dibs are taken on the last donuts so everyone can get back to their offices and gossip about all the FUBAR-edness and how so-and-so did such a great job of evading that while painting a rosy picture so everyone is assured of their next paycheck.
It seems to me that this is what this meeting with Mr. Rosenker was like. It was all sound, no fury, and in the end signified nothing.
In defense of the MRF, let’s first say that they did enough to even have this meeting. And in dealing with governmental employees there is a certain amount of ass-kissing that has to go on. How much you do it and the manner in which you do it is at your discretion.
My extent of ass-kissing is basic civility, no more. Beyond that, it is hands off. RC says it best:
You do not need a long meeting to have a successful meeting agreeing on the things that you already agree on, do you????????
So, you see, it was just like those meetings I’m talking about. A lot of smiles, a lot of back-slapping, and a lot of people feeling real important about themselves. Maybe Mr. Rosenker should write about his life and sell them at bike rallies. I certainly know more than I need to know about his political career.
The door is always open? Don’t kid yourselves. And don’t try to paint a pretty picture when everything is just …. FUBAR.
From Tony Pan (A long Time Bikers Rights Advocate who has been in the forefront of establishing ABATE and BOLT)
Posted here
I'm kind of in shock, along with the rest of you. What was accomplished by this meeting. As RC put it, they agreed to agree on the things they were already in agreement with.
My question is, what happened to the demonizing of the NTSB and Rosenker? I thought everyone was pissed at them, and that the 6 crashes they studied hardly put them in a position to make recommendations to the states about things like mandatory helmet laws. I would much rather see the continuance of state MRO's meeting with their representatives in DC, demanding that NTSB stay out of state's business and that those things that the MRF, NCOM and NTSB already were in agreement on should be the focal point of reducing crashes.
Rosenker seems to have made it clear that the NTSB was going to stick by it's recommendations about helmets. If I were at that meeting (which I wouldn't have wasted time for in the first place) that's the point at which I would have got up and walked out without so much as a "good day" because I really want Rosenker to have a shitty day, today, tomorrow, and thereafter. Let's recognize who it is who is screwing with our life and let's not coddle them or think they're nice guys and girls. Call them for what they are, interloper scumbags that spend their time and our tax dollars thinking of ways to screw us. Fuck Rosenker.
Tony Pan
BOLT
From TIM HORETSKI (posted here) Think maybe it's time to stop playing politics and get pissed???????????
Tim Horetski
Legislative Coordinator
A.B.A.T.E. Ohio
Region 9
From Chuck Desario Posted Here: Remember when I wrote this (See Below)? "I Had A Dream" Well it seems that the MRF and ABATE of Florida had their chance to shine for all of us, and somehow they squandered their opportunity. I believe these things happen to us because, WE the motorcycling community don't and won't communicate with each other. For some reason the leaders of the various motorcycle organizations (the one's WE belong to) seem to think that they know what's best for us. (Kinda of like our State and Federal Governments). I realize that their jobs are tough, but letting us have some real input may have made a difference in the way our opinions were passed on. How many chances do we really have to send our message of Inattentiveness to our leaders? No communication, results in no progress. Just my opinion.
Bruce Arnolds of Bruce and Ray's Forum is well linked to establish a chronology of events and can be found here, along with his war cry......."The battle for bikers' rights is not about patches, parties or poker runs. We fight to protect the freedom and promote the interests of American motorcyclists ... to defend our right to choose our own modes of transportation, attire and lifestyle ... to deter and defy discrimination against us ... and to vanquish those who violate our rights or right-of-way."--Bruce Arnold
ldrlongdistancerider.com
and lest we not forget his short post: I could puke. I could just puke.
And my most recent Post on the same forum in we response to "WE HAVE BEEN BETRAYED"
AND IT'S OUR FAULT:
As we have been betrayed in the past we will continue to be betrayed in the future as we continue to play in an arena that lends itself to compromise and corruption. Where we are out numbered, out financed and out maneuvered. Our failure to grasp that reality will lead to, in light of the current machinations of those who “claim” to represent us, positioning themselves for self aggrandizement over our best interests.
One of our failings would appear to be, that because a number of the posters on this board operate out of intelligence, facts and common sense, there seems to be some sort of expectation such as evidenced by many of the postings on this forum, that that our adversaries operate from the same mindset. When in fact, nothing can be further from the truth.
Consider the following which I have posted on before and at the risk of pissing in the wind will do so again.
Prior to the cell phone ban hearings by the Florida Senate Transportation committee hearings last year many members of this forum went to extraordinary lengths to insure that members of the committee had the “facts,” the “evidence,” as to cause and effect. None of us had a financial stake in our doing so.
Who did the committee ask for study results re: cell phone use while driving? Telecommunications industry representatives. My question would be why? Why not just ask the fox how many he hens he stole while guarding the coop?
It became apparent that many of committee members did not bother to review the literature. Why not?
The lobbyist of the SMRO had previously demonstrated either his lack of comprehension of the issue or his caviler disregard of the facts in favor of his own personal desires. He testified that the SMRO would accept a hands free exemption in direct contradiction of wishes of the SMRO general membership as expressed at state meetings in the Keys and in Naples. Copies of the proceedings were handed out to various members, yet at the next state meeting it was reported that not one member questioned him regarding his “capitulation”.
It has been known that this lobbyist has been under investigation for failure to abide by Florida's Lobbyist financial compensation laws.
This is the man that as a representative of ABATE of Florida and/or NCOM that now has ear of Rosenker and the NTSB . And people are surprised?
In posts below entitled “was the MRF duped..........” and “From Quig, is history repeating itself.................”, I hinted at what some may wish to investigate as to how we got this way. I watched since those postings to see what response they might generate. Until today, nothing. Why? Are we Afraid to look in the mirror?
Because the answer to that “why?” my friends defines why we are losing and we will lose the battle.
Our fear of alienating those who might do us harm has paralyzed us and rendered us impotent. In Florida we are no longer a constituency to be feared and respected. We do not have the numbers. Within the numbers we have is a percentage that is not registered to vote. Within the numbers that are registered, there is a percentage that does not vote and a large percentage that has no idea of what the issues are. A fraction of a fraction of a fraction of anybody's constituency that is willing to sell out it's history in order to “improve the biker image in the publics eye”.
In short the organizations by virtue of being seduced by the legislative process have become whores who temper the states disrespect of us to the rest of the motorcycling population. And what do we do?
We have not learned from history. The lessons of the past. In a thread below Tony Pan pointed out the histories of the states who capitulated and compromised for modified helmets laws. Remember the mantra? We will get what we can now and fight for the rest later? Which state has followed through on that compromise? And since when does one capitulate or compromise on “RIGHT's”
To date despite the “facts”, no state has a total cell phone ban. To date despite the “data”, accident investigation is still sloppy, drivers still do not get hit with full penalties of whatever passes for penalties (if they get charged) and the media still closes every accident with whether or not he was wearing a helmet.
On top of that we have cries for increased insurance, quieter pipes, restricted parking, discriminatory tags and helmet laws. We have SMRO's that have abandoned rights in order to prostitute themselves for safety dollars. We have lobbyists that say one thing and do another. We have politicized our nuts into raisins! In short we have “ALLOWED” ourselves to be fucked and kissed the asses of those that would rape us.
To answer Chucks question, say what you please they are not listening and do not care.
However there is an answer. It necessitates washing the brown off our lips and demanding our rights instead of begging for them. It demands in your face, confrontational, stand up for your damn rights action. Women learned that, Black Americans learned it. Illegal Immigrants have more appreciation for freedom than the American Biker in that they are willing to risk their lives for it. And we did not get out of Vietnam until we threatened to take this country down. This is what our forefathers taught.
We have spent so much time buying into the Harley advertising propaganda that we have actually deluded ourselves into believing that is what we are. We are a freaking joke. Ask any Mexican that will risk life to pick tomatoes in a field where he will be poisoned by pesticides because by doing so he might make life a little better for his children.
Who of us is willing to do the same? We are getting no more than what we have worked for. How does it taste? Someone call Blackwater please. rcAdd to Technorati Favorites
