I hope you have a cup of Biker Coffee Company Coffee in your hand and have tinkled - cause you are gonna be here a while - because I have a LOT to say today.
Folks, here in the province of Alberta and in this magnificent country called Canada it is time for a whole bunch of people who ride motorcycles to take a thoughtful, measured and tactical approach to changing the political landscape of our communities.
We have a trend happening, a nasty trend and if anyone thinks I am pushing a panic button or being a chicken little - I am hoping that you will have a change of heart when you watch the videos I have here and read what I have to say - I hope you will at least consider the fact that I COULD be right...
We have had, for a long time, a small number of bad apples that have put us where we are.
We now have noise bylaws springing up everywhere that are targeted at motorcycles ONLY and not holding the other automotive communities to the same standard.
We have a mind set of discrimination and harassment in our political houses and our law enforcement agencies.
If you look south of the border you will see that our brothers and sisters are fighting, on many fronts, the same fights we are. There are communities and places that DO NOT want us or our lifestyle anywhere near them and their lifestyle. WHY? Because like in every other community - the BAD Apples are ruining it for the rest of us. They have been for a long time and because we got away from policing ourselves and have become so mainstream that we are scared to police ourselves - well - guess what folks - here we are with our lifestyle under siege AGAIN.
Why am I on this rampage today? Well it appears that although the Grande Prairie Toys for Tots group had a parade permit (the guy organizing has been doing it for a long time now and is decent about the details - some say anal) we were not allowed - after 31 years, to run our parade like a parade in spite of having that permit.
Everyone had to obey all traffic lights and stop signs. No blockers were allowed and hence there was no safety for our parade participants and the general motoring public. In fact I have the part about leaving the park and going in to the ANAVET's parking lot on video (I was not riding so I got nothing on tape about the other intersections the riders encountered but I can show you the near misses and the head ache that happened at the park and I can show you how broken up the parade was by the time it got to the end point.
Last year the police also hassled everyone who had anything to do with the run.
The year before - a passenger had been killed about 4 hours AFTER our toy run - the police charged her common law husband with impaired - from what I understand that charge never went anywhere. But that isn't the point. The point is our parade was long over and we were at the hall having dinner when the accident happened - but ever since then we have been targeted during the toy run. A WHOLE community and it's charitable work has been the target of unfair, persecutory and discriminatory practises ever since.
Here is what I observed at our toy run - the police claimed to not have the man power to assist with traffic control for the parade - YET - there were two female officers on foot patrol in Muskoseepi Park before the parade left and the entire time the parade was leaving the park. There was a Ford Police truck WATCHING everyone leave the park (See the white truck in the picture at the beginning of the video and then toward the end of the video)
There were 4 cars/suburbans stopping ALL traffic to jack everyone for papers - the message to the general public (If those dirty bikers weren't holding a parade, we wouldn't be harassing you MS or MR car driver)
Our SANTA even got jacked for his papers.
Then at the end of the parade - at the ANAVET's club there was a suburban parked at the intersection across from the drive way to the club and a squad car just up the street - in the second video you can see them right at the end. But they had NO Officers to assist with the safety and protection of parade participants and the general motoring public when a valid parade license was granted...
We NEED to organize - to unite - to ALL be spreading the exact same message. From Coast to Coast to Coast - we NEED to be conducting ourselves responsibly and we need to respectfully put forth a solid argument that they can not shoot holes in or twist.
I hear a lot of riders say I am 100% legit, they can stop me all they want so it doesn't affect me - well guess what folks - HISTORY repeats itself time and time again and why? Because of that very attitude - it doesn't affect me TODAY, so why should I fight - well think on this...
The man who wrote the quotation? Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. (From Wikipedia)
If you are not a member of the Foundation for Injured Riders, Rights and Education - WE NEED YOU TO BE, if you are not writing letters to the Solicitor General & Justice Ministers in Alberta over the fine Terry Kunto's killer got - WE NEED YOU TO BE.
If you think for one second that none of this affects you - think again.
When the establishment is done with us - who will be next?
Time after time we riders are singled out - either because the police services or the politicians don't want us. The loud minority in the political arenas rule the roost because the silent majority is too quiet and too complacent and too self involved to get off their asses to affect change. At least that has been, until now, my experience.
If you do nothing else - GET OFF YOUR ASSES and VOTE at least. If you don't vote you have no right to whine. If you don't write letters or talk to your local politicians - if you don't lend a hand and support this life style we all love so much then when it is gone - we will join the ranks of so many cultures in history that no longer exist due to discrimination and persecution or have had hundreds and thousands of years of discrimination and persecution as their lot...neither is right.
So what is persecution?
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. (From Wikipedia)
Mayans - The Spaniards feared the Mayans
Jewish/Hebrew - we know what Hitler did
Chinese - look how they were treated right here in Canada
Japanese
Gypsy (Romany)
Druids
Blacks
Natives
Egyptian
Christians - at one time the most persecuted people on the earth
We HAVE to start acting like bikers and have each others backs. We can go back to disliking each other as family members are want to do later, right now - we need each other and we need to look out for each other.
Join F.I.R.R.E. - The Foundation for Injured Riders, Rights & Education...
Write to your local politicians, your ministers of justice etc - the masses may think we are NOISY but folks it is time to become LOUD in a way that it counts with united voices and ONE MESSAGE - PERSECUTION is WRONG - judge the INDIVIDUAL not the WHOLE.
Fair and equitable treament - that is what we want - that is what we deserve - that is what we are aksing for.
PLEASE - PLEASE - join the movement to fair and equitable treatment - we have to be FOR something not against it...
I Believe in Fair and Equitable treatment for all people - how about you?
Like the Aaron Tippen song says....If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.
If you are riding in a toy run today - PLEASE ride safe - if you are considering boycotting one because of the noise laws in your area - please mail in a donation - DO NOT let the kids suffer - they are our hope and our future...
AS ALWAYS - Your feedback and input on this topic or any other are ALWAYS appreciated.
Belt Drive Betty
Remember - I don't generally blog on the weekend so you know I am STEAMED!
We have a trend happening, a nasty trend and if anyone thinks I am pushing a panic button or being a chicken little - I am hoping that you will have a change of heart when you watch the videos I have here and read what I have to say - I hope you will at least consider the fact that I COULD be right...
We have had, for a long time, a small number of bad apples that have put us where we are.
We now have noise bylaws springing up everywhere that are targeted at motorcycles ONLY and not holding the other automotive communities to the same standard.
We have a mind set of discrimination and harassment in our political houses and our law enforcement agencies.
If you look south of the border you will see that our brothers and sisters are fighting, on many fronts, the same fights we are. There are communities and places that DO NOT want us or our lifestyle anywhere near them and their lifestyle. WHY? Because like in every other community - the BAD Apples are ruining it for the rest of us. They have been for a long time and because we got away from policing ourselves and have become so mainstream that we are scared to police ourselves - well - guess what folks - here we are with our lifestyle under siege AGAIN.
Why am I on this rampage today? Well it appears that although the Grande Prairie Toys for Tots group had a parade permit (the guy organizing has been doing it for a long time now and is decent about the details - some say anal) we were not allowed - after 31 years, to run our parade like a parade in spite of having that permit.
Everyone had to obey all traffic lights and stop signs. No blockers were allowed and hence there was no safety for our parade participants and the general motoring public. In fact I have the part about leaving the park and going in to the ANAVET's parking lot on video (I was not riding so I got nothing on tape about the other intersections the riders encountered but I can show you the near misses and the head ache that happened at the park and I can show you how broken up the parade was by the time it got to the end point.
Last year the police also hassled everyone who had anything to do with the run.
The year before - a passenger had been killed about 4 hours AFTER our toy run - the police charged her common law husband with impaired - from what I understand that charge never went anywhere. But that isn't the point. The point is our parade was long over and we were at the hall having dinner when the accident happened - but ever since then we have been targeted during the toy run. A WHOLE community and it's charitable work has been the target of unfair, persecutory and discriminatory practises ever since.
Here is what I observed at our toy run - the police claimed to not have the man power to assist with traffic control for the parade - YET - there were two female officers on foot patrol in Muskoseepi Park before the parade left and the entire time the parade was leaving the park. There was a Ford Police truck WATCHING everyone leave the park (See the white truck in the picture at the beginning of the video and then toward the end of the video)
There were 4 cars/suburbans stopping ALL traffic to jack everyone for papers - the message to the general public (If those dirty bikers weren't holding a parade, we wouldn't be harassing you MS or MR car driver)
Our SANTA even got jacked for his papers.
Then at the end of the parade - at the ANAVET's club there was a suburban parked at the intersection across from the drive way to the club and a squad car just up the street - in the second video you can see them right at the end. But they had NO Officers to assist with the safety and protection of parade participants and the general motoring public when a valid parade license was granted...
We NEED to organize - to unite - to ALL be spreading the exact same message. From Coast to Coast to Coast - we NEED to be conducting ourselves responsibly and we need to respectfully put forth a solid argument that they can not shoot holes in or twist.
I hear a lot of riders say I am 100% legit, they can stop me all they want so it doesn't affect me - well guess what folks - HISTORY repeats itself time and time again and why? Because of that very attitude - it doesn't affect me TODAY, so why should I fight - well think on this...
This quotation was written a LONG time ago and it is MORE true today than it was when it was written...
They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
The man who wrote the quotation? Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. (From Wikipedia)
If you are not a member of the Foundation for Injured Riders, Rights and Education - WE NEED YOU TO BE, if you are not writing letters to the Solicitor General & Justice Ministers in Alberta over the fine Terry Kunto's killer got - WE NEED YOU TO BE.
If you are just "whining" or paying the topic lip service and not doing ANYTHING - will anything change? Hell NO.
If you think for one second that none of this affects you - think again.
When the establishment is done with us - who will be next?
Time after time we riders are singled out - either because the police services or the politicians don't want us. The loud minority in the political arenas rule the roost because the silent majority is too quiet and too complacent and too self involved to get off their asses to affect change. At least that has been, until now, my experience.
If you do nothing else - GET OFF YOUR ASSES and VOTE at least. If you don't vote you have no right to whine. If you don't write letters or talk to your local politicians - if you don't lend a hand and support this life style we all love so much then when it is gone - we will join the ranks of so many cultures in history that no longer exist due to discrimination and persecution or have had hundreds and thousands of years of discrimination and persecution as their lot...neither is right.
So what is persecution?
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. (From Wikipedia)
Mayans - The Spaniards feared the Mayans
Jewish/Hebrew - we know what Hitler did
Chinese - look how they were treated right here in Canada
Japanese
Gypsy (Romany)
Druids
Blacks
Natives
Egyptian
Christians - at one time the most persecuted people on the earth
We HAVE to start acting like bikers and have each others backs. We can go back to disliking each other as family members are want to do later, right now - we need each other and we need to look out for each other.
Join F.I.R.R.E. - The Foundation for Injured Riders, Rights & Education...
Write to your local politicians, your ministers of justice etc - the masses may think we are NOISY but folks it is time to become LOUD in a way that it counts with united voices and ONE MESSAGE - PERSECUTION is WRONG - judge the INDIVIDUAL not the WHOLE.
Fair and equitable treament - that is what we want - that is what we deserve - that is what we are aksing for.
PLEASE - PLEASE - join the movement to fair and equitable treatment - we have to be FOR something not against it...
I Believe in Fair and Equitable treatment for all people - how about you?
Like the Aaron Tippen song says....If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.
If you are riding in a toy run today - PLEASE ride safe - if you are considering boycotting one because of the noise laws in your area - please mail in a donation - DO NOT let the kids suffer - they are our hope and our future...
AS ALWAYS - Your feedback and input on this topic or any other are ALWAYS appreciated.
Belt Drive Betty
What a fustercluck! I hope the brass at the RCMP are proud of themselves for putting riders and other motorists in vehicular jeopardy. No doubt, enough riders will be put off to not participate next year ... and the needy kids will be the ones who suffer.
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