Solitary Rider by Artie Hamlin, A PGR rider speaks

 The Solitary Biker by Artie I Hamlin

    The floor is cold after dragging myself out of bed just as the sun begins to peak in through the shades on my day off.   No lounging around today, for there is a mission to complete, a task not pleasant, but one that must be and ought to be done.  Today I say goodbye and thank you to one of our nation’s fallen heroes.  Cut down in the earliest prime of his life by an enemy’s metal, an enemy that hates the very freedom that I love so dear.   Such freedom that is one reason that I ride my motorcycle…closest to being a free bird that I can achieve, with constant smells, constant temperature changes, and the freedom to go east, the freedom to go west, my choice.  Not today though.  No time for flower sniffin’-a hero’s final rest awaits him as well as my salute and thank you.

     Grabbing a light breakfast for the road—I don’t want to get sleepy from being stuffed. Today is a day toroll on, racking-up mile after mile as my meeting with another’s destiny awaits.  A hot shower that erases the last vestiges of sleep from my body, and then the process of dragging 50lbs of cowhide out of the closet.  Many think we wear the leathers to look “Billy-bad ass” but those of us in the know of the inner circles truth, know it is to protect from the asphalt in case of mine or someone else’s misjudgment, or more importantly today, to keep the chilling wind away from biting my body, robbing me of comfort, of the karma of riding, and of my very strength to ride. Layer after layer of wool and cotton go on before the leather, quietly and deliberately, as I consider the events of the day that will unfold before me, as they have a thousand times before.  The flag draped casket.  The color guard with exquisitely shined brass festoonments and spit-shined shoes all moving as one person with deliberate slowness, a type of professional tenderness of respect  and extreme care as they handle the casket with their fallen comrade inside. 

ABATE of FLorida latest stiffer penalties bill-be vigilant

Following below is the latest ABATE of Florida submitted stiffer penalties bill. Which in it's present form is a rewritten version we wrote a few years back. Which we handed (with witnesses) to Senator Evers, who it would appear, passed on to ABATE of Florida (since unlike ANATE of FLorida we do not kiss the ass of politicians). No matter, we just like to keep history straight.

There are a couple of risks with this bill as filed. First the Advanced driver training school are nothing more than what anyone who receives a ticket has an option to take in order to keep points off their license, thus save on insurance.

Second, if ABATE, as they have been known to do in the past, compromises away the jail wording of the bill (which will receive much opposition from the legislature) then what you end up with is, NOTHING!
Read the Bill

<

The U.S. targets the enemy-You and I

While the Department of Homeland Security is already being sued by the Electronic privacy information center for spying, Yet Congress wants more surveillance! 

From Reuters:

(emphasis ours)

WASHINGTON | Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:32am GMT

(Reuters) - Leaders of a congressional subcommittee are urging the Department of Homeland Security to extensively monitor social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to detect "current or emerging threats."

The top Republican and Democrat on a House counter-terrorism subcommittee last month sent a letter to Homeland Security's intelligence chief encouraging department analysts to pore over huge streams of social media traffic.

Representatives Patrick Meehan and Jackie Speier said in the letter to Caryn Wagner, undersecretary of homeland security for intelligence and analysis, that they "believe it would be advantageous for DHS and the broader Intelligence Community to carefully parse the massive streams of data from various social media outlets to identify current or emerging threats to our homeland security."

Meehan, a Republican, is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee's counter-terrorism and intelligence subcommittee. Speier is the panel's ranking Democrat.

The two lawmakers said such monitoring raises "privacy and civil liberties concerns" and suggested that the department issue guidelines which balance citizens' rights with the ability of analysts to identify threats.

Earlier this week, Homeland Security's National Operations Center published a long list of websites ( ed. note, for a partial list see here) which they monitor for "situational awareness."

In an email to Reuters, Meehan said a hearing he had convened in December had "examined the evolving terrorist use of social media and effective intelligence and law enforcement responses."

Meehan added: "If terrorists are operating in Pakistan or communicating through social media sites like Facebook, we need to remain vigilant. Yet there are important civil liberties questions involving U.S. government monitoring of social media and Americans' Internet traffic. We are seeking answers on the Department's guidelines and procedures to ensure Americans' civil liberties are safeguarded."

Matthew Chandler, a Homeland Security spokesman, said the department's operations center monitors social media only "within the clearly defined parameters articulated" in published department privacy guildelines.

Among websites on the center's favorites list were social media like Twitter, Facebook and My Space; video and photo sharing sites like Hulu, YouTube and Flickr; news and gossip sites like Huffington Post and Drudge Report; and sites like Cryptome and WikiLeaks which publish leaked documents.

Maureen Keith, a spokeswoman for Meehan, said the lawmakers' letter, dated December 16, had not been previously released.

17yo piano boogie Master Luca Sestac

14 yo when he uploaded this to You Tube in 2009. So we figure is about 16 now. Move over Jerry Lee Lewis. Boogie at it's best. Lucas at 14 playing his arrangement of the classical Swanee River Boogie by Albert Ammons. Visit his new Website! http://www.piano99.de/ kickin