Apparently Mrytle Beach has decided it does want your money if you give up your rights

Rally taming options set out Checkpoints, curfews, helmets make MB list By Lorena Anderson - landerson@thesunnews.com Related Content Complete coverage of May rallies Read the city's list of rally options Opinion: A Better Biker Plan Drug-sniffing dogs at traffic checkpoints, closing Ocean Boulevard after midnight, closing certain streets and turning sections of Kings Highway into one-way zones - all these and more are possible measures the city of Myrtle Beach could take to curtail the May motorcycle rallies.

City Attorney Tom Ellenburg on Tuesday offered the council a look at a list of options for the money the city will raise through a 3-mill property tax increase it passed in June specifically for anti-rally efforts.

The city has scheduled a special workshop on these options for 9 a.m. Aug. 19. The location has not yet been selected.

City spokesman Mark Kruea said council members had not yet had time to digest the options but wanted the public to see them and have time to think about them, too.

The suggestions include:

A "strong" ordinance declaring all unpermitted rallies and congregations a nuisance. The memo also suggests the city "meaningfully engage in legal forums with those who sponsor or enable [the rallies]."

Implementing a comprehensive administrative and hearing system to deal with rally-related issues that affect the city, including exhaust noise, helmets and protective eyewear, the street-party atmosphere, juvenile curfew, minors checking into hotels without adults present, parties in parking lots and landscaped areas outside hotels, public drinking, parking and others.

Requiring that all bars close at 2 a.m.

Conducting traffic checkpoints that look at more than just whether drivers have been drinking. Checkpoint officers would look for motorcycle noise violations, equipment violations, registration and operating licenses and use drug-sniffing dogs to find other violations.

Impounding all offending vehicles. Read the rest here if you choose. Though it ain't much worth it.

For two years now we have advocating the boycotting of Mrytle Beach as it is obvious they would prefer Bikers stay home. If however they were to implement a number this measures we may have to rethink our position. It may become an obligation for every biker in the country to descend on Myrtle Beach to remind them even South Carolina is part of America.

"Conducting traffic checkpoints that look at more than just whether drivers have been drinking. Checkpoint officers would look for motorcycle noise violations, equipment violations, registration and operating licenses and use drug-sniffing dogs to find other violations.

Impounding all offending vehicles."

These are police state tactics that can not be tolerated against any American Citizen much less Bikers.

Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. -- Daniel Webster

Ride Free, unless your riding in Myrtle BeachAdd to Technorati Favorites

Blogging about rights can get you arrested.

From Tech Cruch:

I found this arresting chart on Swivel. It plots the number of bloggers who have been incarcerated over the past few years, based on data collected by the World Information Access project. The number of incidents it tracks went from five arrests in 2003 to 35 last year. As blogging expands internationally, so do the risk of speaking one’s mind. (Something many of us take for granted).

Most of those arrests are in countries with oppressive regimes, such as Egypt, China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. But bloggers have been arrested in Canada, France, Greece, and even the U.S. (with Josh Wolf being one of the most famous incidents—he spent the better part of a year in jail for refusing to turn over journalistic video footage to a grand jury).

A few involve cases of alleged terrorism or pedophilia, but the majority involve some form of political speech. Some typical examples:

Reza Valizadeh (Iran; November, 2007). “For revealing Iranian president’s overpriced dogs that his security team uses.”

Charles Leblanc (Canada; June, 2006): “For taking pictures at a conference for his blog.”

Josh Wolf (USA; August, 2006): “For videotaping a burning police car.”

Hu Jia (China; December, 2007): “For posting his vocal critiques of human rights abuses and environmental degradation in China and calling the Olympics a ‘human rights disaster.’”

Reza Valizadeh (Iran; November, 2007): “For revealing Iranian president’s overpriced dogs that his security team uses.”

Nay Phone Latt (Burma; January, 2008): “For posting pictures of monks and people demonstrating on the streets.”

I’ve uploaded a spreadsheet with the names of all 64 arrested bloggers tracked by the WIA that includes their country, date of arrest, and reason for arrest. These do not include people arrested for impersonating someone else on Facebook or unfortunate enough to be beaten to death during an arrest.

(NOTE: Remember after the passage of HB 137 in Florida a blogger that goes by the name of Bullfrog joked, "This means I am now going to have to kill and eat Lopez-Cantera" and immediately came under police investigation.)

Note the comment "but the majority involve some form of political speech." Then keep in mind the MSNBC story about internet monitoring.

Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is the history of resistance. -- Woodrow Wilson

Who among us would resist?Add to Technorati Favorites