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Author Bill Bish, a freedom fighter forever. THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at < Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
SENATOR CAMPBELL REVS UP ATTENTION TO SMALL MOTORCYCLE BUSINESSES: In a June
19 letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse
Campbell (R-CO) urged the EPA to modify their proposed rule to tighten
emission requirements for highway motorcycles by including a flexible implementation
schedule.
"The flexible implementation schedule would ideally allow smaller motorcycle
manufacturers more time to adjust to the rule in order to help them comply
with the requirements, without going out of business," said Campbell. "Clean air
should remain a national priority, yet we must be mindful of the unintended
consequences that new rules can have on our small businesses."
Currently, six manufacturers (Honda, Harley-Davidson, Yamaha, Kawasaki,
Suzuki and BMW) account for 95% of the U.S. motorcycle sales. Given their
significant market presence and economies of scale, these companies are well
positioned to incorporate new rules requiring production modifications, Campbell told
the EPA. However, manufacturers of the remaining five percent of the
motorcycle market are far less likely to meet more stringent requirements without
significant and disproportionate market impacts.
The EPA intends to implement California-style emissions cut-backs in a
two-phase plan beginning in 2006, resulting in an 80% reduction in motorcycle
tailpipe emissions by 2010.
Stricter new limits will be established for hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides
emitted by the engines, requiring motorcycle manufacturers to reduce emissions
from a currently allowable 5 grams of Hydrocarbons per kilometer to 1.4
grams/km by 2006 and .8 grams by 2010. Nitrogen oxides, which are unregulated at
this time, must also be reduced to 1.4 grams/km in 2006 and .8 grams/km by
2010.
It is widely speculated that new motorcycles will be required to use fuel
injection on the intake and catalytic converters on the exhaust in order to
comply with the tough new federal regulations, as well as altering cam timing and
making other engine modifications, including liquid cooling.
As the federal EPA prepares to release their final rule, it's nice to know
that we have friends in high places. Senator Campbell is a long time motorcycle
enthusiast and is a member of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists
Legislative Task Force (NCOM-LTF).
RIDING THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL : While Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell may be the
most visible motorcycling legislator, other politicians are climbing aboard.
During a recent meeting of Western governors in Missoula, MT, the star of the
show was Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne, the former U.S. senator who could
eventually be the president's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Kempthorne is a polished politician, but here he was in a rumpled suit and
unkempt hair. What was going on? All was revealed when Kempthorne took the
podium and told the audience that he had ridden his Harley-Davidson up from
Boise. Kempthorne apologized for his ruffled suit, explaining that his saddlebags
didn't afford much room. The Republican even told how he'd pulled over to
hear the birds chirp along the river. The image was Marlon Brando meets Marlin
Perkins.
Montana Senator Max Baucus had a meeting in Glacier National Park to discuss
the deteriorating condition of its Going-to-the-Sun Road. Baucus seemed to
present the image that he was zooming to the rescue, federal checkbook in hand.
Why? He arrived - you guessed it - revving the throttle of his
Harley-Davidson motorcycle. And, yes, the Democrat did tip off the local TV stations
before he rode into town.
Times have certainly changed since California's Senator George Murphy once
called bikers "the lowest form of animal".
But Ben Long, a contributor to Writers on the Range, is apparently still
stuck in the past. "Sure, senators want to look like regular guys, even though
most of them are millionaires who wouldn't know a carburetor from a camshaft.
Politicians make laws. Rebels break laws. Politicians and Harleys go together
like thermal long johns on an August day in the Mojave. We know the mundane
truth: Politicians spend their days behind desks, not behind handlebars."
JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST : "When Wisconsin repealed its motorcycle helmet law
in 1978, cynics saw it as a way of improving the human gene pool. Through
Darwinian selection, stupid people who didn't wear helmets would die off and
intelligent people who wore helmets would survive and multiply," writes Joel McNally
in his article "It's Time to Put a Lid on Motorcycle Carnage," appearing in
the July 22nd edition of The Journal Times in Milwaukee.
Following are some excerpts from his lengthy article, which can be viewed in
its entirety at:
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2003/07/22/opinion/iq_2362962.txt.
"Wearing a helmet is the single most effective way of reducing deaths and
serious injuries among riders. State legislatures across the country have been
following Wisconsin's example by listening to the crude, overweight biker
lobbies that think rider safety is
for wimps.
The name of the strongest state lobby against motorcycle helmets illustrates
how a simple, intelligent safety measure can be demonized by a right-wing,
anti-government, militia mentality.
The lobby is called ABATE, which stands for A Brotherhood Against
Totalitarian Enactments.
The name implies that totalitarian governments such as the old Soviet Union
used to oppress their citizens by making them walk around wearing motorcycle
helmets... Thank god we live in the good, ol' USA where we have a Constitution
guaranteeing the rights of motorcycle riders to scramble their brains across
the pavement.
We realized the Marlboro Man wasn't a symbol of American freedom after he
died of lung cancer and we found out he'd been damaging everybody else's health
all those years with his second-hand smoke. It's time we realized motorcycle
riders who aren't smart enough to put on helmets aren't free of anything but
intelligence."
(About the author: Joel McNally is former editor of the Milwaukee alternative
weekly Shepherd Express and appears weekly on the WMVS-TV public television
show "Interchange." His e-mail address is: jmcnally@wi.rr.com)
BUYOU POLITICS:Giving up Freedom for insurance profits. "We are just going to have to get inside people's lives and
change their behavior," said former legislative auditor Dan Kyle in officially
announcing his candidacy for state insurance commissioner on August 14, adding
that Louisianians need to change their behavior to reduce insurance costs.
That includes banning all open containers of alcoholic beverage from
vehicles, requiring all passengers to wear seat belts and require motorcycle riders to
wear helmets.
While he differs with Governor Mike Foster over helmets, Kyle passed the
litmus test for Foster’s support: He will decline all contributions from people in
the insurance industry.
Kyle dropped out of the governor’s race because he couldn't raise enough
money to run, but told the Lafayette Daily Advertiser that "people in the business
community" have agreed to finance his race for insurance commissioner in an
effort to hold down insurance costs.
Kyle said rates are based on costs and he has many ideas of how to reduce
costs, including stronger DWI laws to lower the number of deaths from drunk
driving.
STURGIS BOUND: Amongst a half million bikers, who'd notice one felon?
Convicted Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy set up shop in Sturgis, SD, for the
annual motorcycle rally. Liddy, 72, rode his 2003 Harley-Davidson 1,846 miles from
the Washington, D.C., area to Sturgis, where he took part in book and
calendar signings, a motorcycle ride from Mount Rushmore to the Buffalo Chip
Campground, and he broadcast his daily radio show from the rally. In the nearby town
of Deadwood, the mayor designated Monday as "G. Gordon Liddy Day" in the
gambling town, and on Thursday, Governor Mike Rounds proclaimed August 7 as "G.
Gordon Liddy Day" in South Dakota. Liddy served four years and four months in
prison for his role in the 1972 break-in at Democratic Party headquarters at the
Watergate.
THE GOVERNATOR: On August 7, actor and bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger
announced on the set of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno that he was running for
Governor of California in the wake of a recall election aimed to unseat Governor
Gray Davis.
Who can forget his thrilling ride on a Fat Boy in Terminator 2, which led to
the T2:3D mega attraction at Universal Studios? The former Mr. Universe
continues to be an avid motorcyclist and can frequently be found mixing with other
riders at the Rock Store in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California.
Schwarzenegger has had past forays into the political arena. Two Indian
Chief motorcycles used in making T3 were auctioned off to help fund California's
Proposition 49 to increase state grants for before and after-school programs,
which was sponsored by Schwarzenegger, and he also served as Chairman of the
President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under President George Bush.
Could the Presinator be his next sequel? Unlike the rise of Ronald Reagan
from Hollywood actor to Governor of California, to President of the United
States, Arnold doesn’t meet the qualifications because he is not a natural born
citizen.
ILLINOIS GOVERNOR SIGNS MOTORCYCLE-FRIENDLY LEGISLATION: Governor Rod
Blagojevich signed Public Act 093-0080 (HB-0123) into law on July 2nd to make it a
violation to use or sell traffic signal preemption devices except by emergency
vehicles, reports the Illinois Motorcyclist's Rights Association. The IMRA
introduced an amendment which "does not prohibit use by motorcycles of electronic
or magnetic safety devices designed to allow traffic control signal systems
to recognize or detect motorcycles."
The amendment was created to protect use by motorcyclists of devices such as
the "Green Light Trigger." These devices allow the magnetic loops used by
traffic signals to recognize the presence of motorcycles. This has been an
ongoing problem for many years and IMRA believes it is important to protect the use
of these devices for the safety of motorcyclists.
The bill as originally drafted made no distinction between these and other
devices manufactured with the intent of changing the actual pattern of the
signal. It would have assessed heavy penalties to both the consumer and seller of
such devices.
The bill, introduced by Represenative Don Moffitt, passed unanimously through
the House and Senate, and will take effect immediately.
WEIRD NEWS: ACLU DEFENDS DYKES ON BIKES PARADE A group of lesbians trying
to hold Orange County's second Dyke March say city leaders here have come up
with a set of rules so onerous that they are trying to march them right out of
town.
City officials told the Orange County Register that they have no problem with
lesbians parading on their streets. But they say the Dyke March, led by
Dykes on Bikes, will have to follow the permit process like any other group. This
year's permit was granted by the city with 21 conditions, including
restricting the number of motorcycles to 10 and requiring that all bikers attend safety
training before the parade and provide their driver's licenses and proof of
insurance. If police witness traffic violations, tickets could be mailed to the
bikers.
"The conditions were clearly designated to make the process so complicated
and so intimidating that we would just give up and go away. Well, we're not
going away," said march organizer Lori Hutson.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Dyke
March in which they claim Costa Mesa is discouraging the group from holding what
would be its second annual event on August 16 through its restrictions on
motorcyclists, a requirement that organizers arrange for a $1 million liability
insurance policy, and that they put up a deposit of more than $3,000 to pay for
police.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Santa Ana asks for a temporary
restraining order to keep the city from imposing the restrictions, and contends that
Costa Mesa's permit process is unconstitutional because it lets the city
arbitrarily impose conditions that demonstrators must meet to receive a permit.
The ACLU said it has won fights against similar restrictions on gathering
permits in Long Beach, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Santa Monica.
9-11 Everyone has seen the photo of three NYC firefighters raising the
American flag over the rubble of the Twin Towers at Ground Zero on 9-11-01, but did
you know that one of those brave public servants is a biker? That's correct,
the fireman pictured on the right is Billy Eisengrin and he is a full patch
wearing member of the Islanders Motorcycle Club in Staten Island.
"Yes, Billy is the firefighter on the right side of the photo," said Mike
"OilCan" Spano, webmaster for the Islanders MC (www.islandersmc.com). "He’s a
member of the Islanders MC, he’s also a great guy and a good friend."
He's also a Hero, one of many that day.
QUOTABLE QUOTES: "The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it.
Ignorance may deride it. But in the end; there it is."
Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), British Statesman
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