I used to think that people who ride are almost by default non-Clovers. 
It takes higher-order skills, for one, to ride a motorcycle than it does to drive a car. In addition to balancing clutch and throttle, one must also balance oneself on the bike – and learn to do all three things simultaneously and automatically. It is probably true that anyone who rides is a better driver, just in terms of physical skills, than most anyone who merely drives.
Riding a bike is also something that requires engagement. You cannot be passive or zoned out as so many cagers often are. Well, I suppose you can – but if you do zone out on a bike, you won’t be riding for very long. And passivity on two wheels is pretty much impossible, even if you were so inclined. It’s not unlike leaning back in a chair, so that you are balanced on the hind two legs. Go to sleep – or stop paying attention – and soon you will be on the floor. Now, imagine adding the element of speed – as well as needing to turn – and so on. You can’t do that half-awake. No one texts on two wheels.
Anyhow.
I got an e-mail alerting me to an outfit – ostensibly, a biker outfit – that is agitating for a national “zero tolerance” standard for motorcycle riders. It is called MotorcycleAccident.org and wants to see laws passed making it a criminal offense for a motorcycle rider to have any alcohol whatsoever in his system.
From the web site:
“… we are petitioning the Federal Highway Authority to pass a nationwide requirement that states raise the 0.08% blood alcohol level threshold for drunk driving to a zero tolerance threshold for motorcyclists.”
Er, uh… I am pretty sure they meant to say lower the BAC threshold to “zero tolerance.” They can’t even get that right.
Anyhow.
This zero tolerance bidness is, of course, the logical end point of the neo-Prohibitionist jihad spearheaded by the out-of-control Mothers Against Drunk Driving – but I never woulda thunk that it would be a biker organization openly emoting (note, not reasoning) for the criminalization of the consumption of any alcohol whatsoever. That would actually claim that having had even a single drink – and perhaps two hours ago – amounts to “drunk” driving (or riding) and that people should be arrested and thrown in jail and subjected to massive fines and life-altering punishment for that. It is so egregious – so bereft of reason – as to be almost unbelievable. Until you take into account the Cloverite mindset. Because the Cloverite mind (if you want to call it that) cannot reason. It does not base its views on facts. It does not apply principles to particulars. It merely feels. And believes. 
And for a Clover, that is enough.
Re-read the quote above. Notice the fact-free nature of the thing. And conversely, the emotional pleading. They are “petitioning” for a “zero tolerance” standard. But where is the evidence that a rider who enjoyed a beer over dinner 45 minutes ago is no longer competent to ride his machine safely? Not even MADD has gone this far – and MADD is pretty demented. The BAC threshold defining “drunk” driving in all 50 states is .08, a political (no, religious) standard that has not been shown to correlate with actual accidents – as the former .10 standard did. But even MADD hasn’t – yet – demanded that people be arrested and tossed in the clink if they are found to have been drinking any alcohol at all.
But, why not? It is of a piece with the rest of police state America. We are all presumptively criminals anyhow – and treated as such – in order that Clovers may feel safe. An interesting thing about Clovers is that they will posit a vague, generalized and theoretical “harm” in order to impose an actual, real harm on millions of specific individuals. This business here being a case in point. The Clover feels that any rider who has even the most minuscule trace amount of alcohol in his system is dangerously impaired (even though there is no evidence to support this) and so demands that millions of riders who have done nothing to anyone be threatened with brutal punitive sanctions. And of course, that everyone on the road be not only stopped for no specific reason but also forced to take a Breathalyzer or similar test to “make sure” they have no alcohol whatsoever in their system – since this is the only way to “make sure” of such a thing. Because a person who has had one drink 90 minutes ago will exhibit no external manifestation of his consumption. The only way to “make sure” is by a blood or breath test. And – tada – just guess what we have in the tool box? Several states have already put into place throw-you-over-the-cruiser’s-hood blood draws (conducted by “trained” GED graduate cops) and the car companies are developing in-car sniffers/samplers that will disable the ignition (and probably call the cops, too) if they sense any booze in your system.
The circle is now complete.
Probable cause was thrown in the trash back in the ’80s – and it’s already de facto the reality that you can be stopped and inspected for absolutely no specific reason whatsoever – other than to assuage the Cloverite’s feeling that someone (anyone) might be driving or riding “drunk.” If these two-wheeled Clovers succeed, the final impediment to bare-fanged totalitarianism on the roads will have been removed, since a “zero tolerance” standard means, in practice, no tolerance – for our former right to be left unmolested unless we have given some reason to justify otherwise. Because a “zero tolerance” policy is as unreasonable a thing as can be imagined.
I am not (as Clover will surely accuse me of doing) defending “drunk” driving (or riding). I am attacking idiocy based on over-the-top emoting, which a free society cannot abide and expect to survive.
Thanks, MotorcycleAccident.org – for helping to further turn this country into a parody of East Germany. At least in the former Deutsch Demokratische Republik, they didn’t hassle you because you’d had a drink two hours ago. 
In the USSA, we can’t even do that anymore without being thrown in prison.
Throw it in the Woods?
Rev, starting at about 9 years old I was determined to move to Aus. and live in the outback. I don’t play well with neighbors so I’ve only lived in town a couple times, much to my lament. Once I was old enough and established enough to have money to move with, Australia passed such extreme immigration laws it wasn’t possible to move there. They did what the US should have done and definitely what the Euro countries should have done. Sweden is paying a high price for their “progressive” ideas right this minute. Gotta go, a ’68 model Pink Floyd video is playing…..far out. And if the band your in starts playing different tunes…….
In all my 30-odd years on bikes, I’ve never been impaired by alcohol once, or so my riding would attest to. It’s rare I’ve ever drunk anything while on the bike, but never had a problem.
The biggest problem when advocating zero measurement and tolerance is that the initial breath test can be defective and has been known to be so, confounded by other factors.
Unfortunately, 0.01 is over that limit – how low do they want the numbers to go? If 0.00 is deemed zero, eventually they’ll find a way to get you at 0.001, which is like getting a whiff of paint thinner at work.
Notably, one of the bigger flaws in the 0.10 / 0.08 / 0.05 thingie is that if you’re a weed of a girl and read say 0.04 – you’re pretty smashed unless you’ve had many years of heavy boozing under your belt. Everyone’s different, but absolute limits don’t account for that.
The thing we don’t have Down Under is the stand on tippy toes kind of “sobriety test”. It’s only meters with numbers here.
One thing not many know is that you can be charged with “drunk driving” at well below the legal threshold defining drunk driving.
Here’s how it works:
You are considered presumptively “drunk” if you score a .08 or higher on a blood alcohol test. This evidence by itself is sufficient evidence of legal guilt.
However, they can still arrest you if you blow a lower BAC but the officer believes you are “impaired.” This form of “drunk” driving is what the shysters (lawyers) call “rebuttable.” That is, you – the accused – can argue/present evidence in court that supports your claim of legal innocence of being “drunk” or “impaired.”
Still, the point here is they can arrest you – and impound your car – at BAC threshold well below the legal .08 standard that defines “drunk” driving.
Here we can be charged if we’re AT the BAC limit (0.05 – which used to be 0.08). Which doesn’t make any sense, because we can’t be charged with speeding if we’re AT the limit. Luckily, they haven’t tried to do us yet for reading under – I think that would send our fellas here off the edge 🙂
Olaf,
I don’t mean offense, though the sarcasm will indicate otherwise:
What will your fellas do when they go off the edge?
Pee on the officer’s pants leg? (Funny as hell, but my intended point is – what real recourse would those in Australia or NZ be able to do?)
Assuming you are basically law-abiding….
Jean, if they started arresting everyone for being “close” to the limit, the courts will be flooded and “wrongful arrest” charged against the cops will become far more common. Although they try to, cops here don’t tend to get away with as much crap as they do in the USSA.
Ah, that explains it. Thank you for the clarification.
Trying to figure out how to ExPat here to someplace reasonable… Where the taking class hasn’t entrenched itself yet. Talked to my parents around Christmas, they were noticing it’s time to expat, too…. But they can’t get past the US, so with them, it’s never going to happen.
Me, God only knows – got a skill that’s in demand here, but go to, say, India? I’m outnumbered, and they’re cheaper (if only about 2/3 as effective, they’re actually more knowledgeable – making it VERY funny when I interview perspective wage slaves. They think their knowledge has value, but they’ve never seen anything more complex than the, “Hello world” program…. )
Hi Jean,
If you find a place, let me know.
I’ve given the Expat Option much consideration and – it seems to me – there is no place left to go. Sure, there are some countries where the overt tyranny is somewhat less oppressive. But – and correct me if I am wrong – none have any more respect for property or individual rights than the regime here. Most have less – in the sense that they haven’t got any tradition of respect for such rights and no codified laws to that effect. Many have confiscatory taxes, just like here. Virtually none respect the right of a person to keep/bear arms.
If one has a lot of money, of course, the equation is more favorable. Then you can buy, say, a large estancia in Argentina, in the German-influenced area perhaps – and live quietly.
But what if you’re not rich – and need to earn a living?
Such people face a Hobson’s Choice: A temporary increase in day-to-day liberty that may and probably will be taken away, in exchange for a massive financial sacrifice.
Besides, I am inclined to agree with Brent and Meth and others here who have pointed out that liberty’s last stand will be made here. If the US goes totalitarian, the world is going to be consumed by that, too.
We have to make our stand here, I think.
Jean, Eric, I heard japan charges little income tax, correct me if I’m wrong. Philippines you’re a virtual millionaire if ya got 100 bucks, but the gubberment and cops there are corrupt as hell and will just bust in and rob ya, because you’re white. Maybe ya could try Vietnam? Heard it’s a nice place and the people friendly.
For me, I’d rather move to central Australia, where the cops are generally kept busy locking up the Abo’s. Speed limits in the Northern Territory until a few years ago was unlimited, now 130k/h. They changed it after some fools decided to emulate “Cannonball Run” and a few crashed out.
Australia’s a big place and not yet as corrupt as the USSA, so if ya want to disappear, the Aussie outback is something like Death Valley, but with more beer 😉
Hi Rev,
I like the idea of Australia (and NZ). Both seem to be beautiful places, with plenty of low-density areas where one could go to be left alone.
But, the anti-gun and “safety” stuff there seems to be as bad (and in re guns, worse) than here.
Leaving that aside, the major consideration is, of course, money. I really like having land and a nice house – which I now have, after many years of working/sacrificing to make it happen.
I could not abide living in an apartment or condo. Or even “suburbia.”
This is what ruled out Switzerland for me. I could go there, because I have dual citizenship. The problem is, I haven’t got the money to live there. Or rather, not enough to come close to replicating the lifestyle I enjoy now. $500k will buy you a small condo/apartment. Forget a single family house – forget acreage. I’d need to be a millionaire (probably a multi-millionaire) to live in Switzerland like I live here in VA.
How far does a dollar go in Australia? How much (appx.) does a decent-sized place (say at least 15 acres with a nice house) go for there?
If I could buy something comparable to what I have now – outright, in cash – I’d be tempted.
It’d have to be bought outright, too. Because assuming large debt (mortgage) in a foreign (to me) country would entail having to quickly find full-time employment, probably in a new field, in order to pay for it. I think I’d have a tough time doing that, because I’ve been a self-employed car jock for so long now that I’m probably incapable of ever going to work in an office environment again.
I could, of course, nix the house/land and live a much smaller-scale life. But I’ve been there/done that. Having worked my ass off for 25-plus years to get what I’ve got, I’m very reluctant to go back to living the transient life of a 22-year-old in the proverbial van down by the river….
Hi Eric.
Can’t agree more, it’s rapidly becoming a country full of wowsers and nannies, but far less so in the outback. That’s where “we” as a people draw the line against nannyism. You can roam for miles and days without seeing anyone. You can still procure firearms although not as freely as in the US.
A dollar in many ways doesn’t seem to go as far as in the US. A Macca’s filet-o-fish burger here is about $5-6. 5 Pieces of KFC at about $12. Food prices here are some 20%+ over that in the UK. You knowing more about cars and pricing might be able to make useful comparisons here: http://www.carsguide.com.au
The last 10 years or so saw property prices double. I’ll see what I can find for ya [rummage]..
Around where I live, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and double garage anywhere between $200K + depending on the land size, but that’s within our smallish town. You might have to look at smaller surrounding towns such as Wangaratta, Bendigo, Horsham etc. for larger “farm” property.
Here’s a starting point:
http://www.realestate.com.au/buy/size-5000-in-east+albury%2c+nsw+2640/list-1?source=refinements
Get a map of Australia and check around some of the smaller towns. There’s bound to be something, but when we say “outback”, it means central parts of Australia – anywhere inside 1000k’s or so from the coast, which is often arid, excepting the inner Eastern states largely used for farming.
Moving to another country is never easy and our immigration laws are a little tight, but considering the number of illegal boats we’ve been getting from Indonesia lately.. sheesh.
Australia seems to be too far down the road in many areas. Their hoon driving laws being a prime example. The clovers took that country over in the 1990s. I don’t think it’s worse than the US overall, probably about the same, maybe a little bit better, maybe with more desolate land nobody cares to bother people in. Not sure if those remaining benefits are worth the hassle and costs of relocating there. Especially considering the current trajectory means the benefits could be gone in a few years.
There may not be even one legitimate rider in the whole group. I wouldn’t discount the idea that it is a Cloverite front organization. That is not to say that there aren’t clovers in teh bike community. Just look at motorcycle cops…..
Yeah – I think so, too!
MADD is perhaps the the ur (and ultimate) Cloverite front group, of course.
I don’t see a word on the site that indicates that it is an organization formed by bikers. The domain registration is secret.
A drunk motorcycle rider is a self-correcting problem in most cases.
So what we have is really another case of someone who wants parental government treating people like children.
Of course children aren’t free, they are subject to the rules of their parents. Rules and punishments often to keep them from hurting themselves. And so we get nonsense like this.
Then there is the even more insane instances of people being charged for riding a horse drunk…
So I did a little checking around. It appears that the owner of the web site has been mailbombing the entire Internet to get them to link back to her. Example: http://www.mailboxexpress.co.uk/resources/news/latest/no-more-booze-for-bikers!.html
Nice legwork, Easy-rider!
I have copied an excerpt from their website, below. It makes me wonder if the author has actually ever ridden a motorcycle. If I tried to do what they recommend I think I might crash.
3. Hand positions matter.
Intersections are where the most accidents happen. To be fully prepared for a stop, place your hands over both your front and rear brakes when you are approaching a stop; this will allow you to brake as quickly as possible if necessary.
Always be at the ready to brake, though not necessarily with your hands over the brakes, which could result in accidental braking. If an obstacle suddenly appears, you need to be able to slow down quickly so that you can go around it instead of over it.
And the item afterward where it talks about lane position is not much better.
Looking at the quality of the site and obvious lack of proof reading, I get the impression that this “organization” is just one person sitting in their living room with a bullshit agenda. It doesn’t take any effort to create GoDaddy web site, after all.
In all honesty, Eric should have simply ignored them rather than raising their site in the google search results by hotlinking to them.
No, it’s better to out these nanny-statist bootlicking organizations sooner than later. Look at what MADD has been able to do unrestricted for the last 30 years.
The problem is that anyone half-wit with an idea, an agenda, that expands the government’s power will often get attention if not support. Meanwhile a well supported case for liberty is outright dismissed without a hearing as kookism.
I have just sent them a critical series of comments on just two paragraphs of their web-site. I suggested that at least one element of their ‘advice’ if followed, could easily get someone killed, whilst another, with explanation given,is just nonsense. It will be interesting to see if they respond to, or print, my comments.
Ken.
Which was the potentially lethal piece of advice? I know nothing about motorbikes.
Hi Mike,
I’ll nominate assuming a driver is going to do what he appears he’s going to do – and in particular, will follow rules of etiquette and law.
IIRC, the most common way to get killed on a bike is to assume that driver coming the other way – who isn’t signaling – won’t turn left in front of you….
Hey Ken,
I think you’re right! Or maybe they are riding special bikes? What’s that thingie do by your right foot anyhow?
Oh that thingie! I use it to rest my toes on the long runs. The only thing I’ve noticed is that, if I hit a really big bump that jerks my right foot and makes it ‘spring’, it makes a loud clunking noise from down near my feet and the engine revs change. I think it must be loose or something.
Ken.
Oh, sorry, that is the thingie on the left hand side. The right hand toe rest doesn’t seem to do anything at all.
Ken.
Now think about it, if one is placing one’s hands over the brakes, one is obviously riding a bicycle! Maybe the intellectual that put this site up thinks by clipping those playing cards to his forks with clothes pins, he actually IS riding a motorcycle (after all it kinda sounds like a “motor”). Or perhaps he’s set up a 501c3 “organization” so, as an attorney once told me, he’ll have a “license to steal.”
The cheesy website may just be a cover, with the zero tolerance for alcohol gig there to draw in the MADD crowd. Don’t ever discount the potential damage a crackpot with a cause can do. Look at the money the Southern Poverty Law Center has gathered while they undermine our rights. They brand anyone to the right of V. I. Lenin a “right wing extremist” or “lifestyle terrorist” and have banked over $200 million doing it.
In the same way that Morris Dees “cares” about minorities, this creep probably “cares” about motorcycle accidents. Unscrupulous opportunists like this need a long vacation in North Korea.
Yeah – and: The person behind that site actually contacted me about “writing articles” for EPautos!
The SPLC, like a lot of organizations, is a bit of a mixed bag, unless you think that opposing White supremacist/neo-Nazi groups is a bad thing. I don’t.
Nicolas, the problem with Dees, Potok and the SPLC is not that they oppose skinheads and the like; they lump Ron Paul supporters, Constitutionlists, NRA / GOA / JFPO members and anyone they deem dangerous (to them, I presume) all in the same camp with them. In fact V.I. Lenin and Karl Marx may have been a bit to “conservative” for these guys. The SPLC was responsible for the MIAC report out here in Missouri identifying, among others, returning veterans as potential terrorists. They “educate” police nationwide that people who are concerned about the Constitution, the Bible, own Guns, own camo clothing, support third party candidates, etc. are lifestyle terrorists!
Now with the present push to eliminate Posse Comitatus in congress and to declare the USA part of the battlefield (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/28/1040443/-The-Homeland-is-Part-of-the-Battlefield-?via=sidebar), if it passes and you become the target of the feds because of your political beliefs, they can “render” you, take you offshore, torture you, lock you away as long as they like and you’ll have no legal recourse. If you’re a libertarian or anarchist, you’re an above average candidate for “special treatment”.
But I digress. The SPLC is one of the worst as far as what they spend on their so-called mission of helping poor minority members, but one of the best at fund raising. Morris Dees has an offshore account in the Cayman Islands. Now we don’t know how much is in it, but one does not open that type of bank account unless he has real money to hide.
There is a large body of research on the SPLC and it all points to them pushing an ultra-left agenda, villifying the liberty movement and getting very wealthy doing it. Don’t be fooled, these folks are bad news and need to be exposed for the whores, hypocrites and opportunists they actually are.
I encourage you strongly to check the SPLC out thoroughly. Here some links to get you started:
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/leftwing-extremist-southern-poverty-law-center-smears-conservatives-patriots
http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/9242-splc-scamming-for-power-lucre-and-control-
http://rkeefe57.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/splc-2011-forty-years-of-white-supremacy/
Nicholas,
Count me amongst those who DO NOT think that White supremacist/Neo-nazi organizations are AS BAD as SPLC.
White supremacists and Neo-Nazis are open enemies, not false friends.
We can face the enmy we know.
We cannot tolerate the “friend” who will stab us in the back without warning, provocation, cause, even.
Furthermore, i’d suggest you look through the Human BioDiversity (HBD) findings. There ARE actual differences. (And they suck, since I’m white, but Asians score VERY WELL on those “biased” IQ and standardized tests… Even those from China, say. Better, categorically, than whites. And Jews are way up there, too, between Asians and “whites”, IIRC. funny how only the n*ggers can’t move up. Mexican immigrants outscore blacks, too, BTW – and after a generation or two, score higher than the Mexican average. But as more and more blacks devolve to be n*ggers and thugs…. You make Baltimore MD and Detroit MI the norm, or Chicago, or LA, or NYC… Washington, DC? ALL run by Black people, most with VERY HIGH monetary investment in their schools – but cultures that abhor learning, work, morals, or even basic kindness. Been there, lived in a few of those places – the type of place a white boy don’t go, if ya know what I mean. the naked hostility to my very PRESENCE was a problem – I didn’t wait around to see if they were going to be decent or not…. _I_ was a target. Tell me again who the racist is? I didn’t have this hatred for blacks until in my late 30s. I was raised to not care abour skin color. What I noticed is, blacks only cared about their skin color: it was what defined them. And it was THEM against US. Now, it’s becoming them against everyone: They don’t like Latinos, Mexicanos, mestizzos, whites, caucasians, asians, jews… Even black conservatives write about this, check out Larry Elder.
So – NO SPLC. The “cure” is worse than the disease, as it excuses all negative black behaviors, all negative incidents – but refuses to do the same for anyone deemed “the majority,” which invariably means one or more of: White, Middle-class, educated, redneck, intelligent, religious, or wealthy. IE, it’s Marxist class warfare at the core, which it turns towards racial ends. It promotes n*ggerness and discourages self-reliance, freedom, self-determination, learning, culture, acculturation, ability, etc. Promotes a free ride for blacks. I cannot stomach that: I’ve known too many good, capable people with black skin, AND too many n*ggers -most of whom, though not all, were black. Funny how there aren’t many Jews or Asians in that N-group. Even limited WRT whites, mexicans, Indians, etc… Maybe there’s soemthing to take away in that mess?)
Here is how it’s done!
Simply Amazing!?
If he is from the USA he could be on America has talent.
I can see someone riding with no hands. I have done this on a bicycle. Texting takes this to another level. Hopefully he does not need to do any evasive maneuvers. If he does things could be ugly.