With the politicians in Washington running loose, we’re about to lose more than our motorcycle freedoms. It’s time to make them listen to the people they’re supposed to represent, and remind them who put them into office. Attend any public meetings or town hall events you can and make our voices heard. Stop runaway government spending and control NOW!!

   

I am a 10-year member of ABATE of Wisconsin.
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I live at the corner of “Kiss My Ass Avenue” and “No Friggin Way.”

   

And a fine one at that Ed
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Enjoy every sandwich

   

yo, its my understanding that anyone can join??? or do ya have to own a bike...I would love to get one of those "watch out for bikes" signs seen around here a bunch and heard ABATE puts them out....or..do I have it all misconstrued
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'If you don't stand for something,
you will fall for anything.'

   

quote:

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Originally posted by lil shit
yo, its my understanding that anyone can join??? or do ya have to own a bike...I would love to get one of those "watch out for bikes" signs seen around here a bunch and heard ABATE puts them out....or..do I have it all misconstrued

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What Damage said, as long as you help prompt motorcycle safety,
please join.
Just casue you don't own a bike, doesn't mean you have never ridden passager.



oh and Hi Damage, long time on see.
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Life Is What We Make it
alway have been, always will be......
100K on sporty

   

quote:

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Originally posted by damage_is_dun

quote:

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Originally posted by lil shit
yo, its my understanding that anyone can join??? or do ya have to own a bike...I would love to get one of those "watch out for bikes" signs seen around here a bunch and heard ABATE puts them out....or..do I have it all misconstrued

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Yes lil shit, anyone can join.
If more cagers joined, it'd make life a lil easier on us, assuming they'd
understand and learn the concept of SHARE the ROAD.

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November Rant, Just That Time of the Year
By Dave Dwyer

November Rant, Just That Time of the Year


Just think, in one short year we will be electing a new Wisconsin Governor, the entire State Assembly, one-half the Wisconsin Senate, the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the US Senate.


I hope everyone pays close attention to what your elected officials do, and even more importantly, don’t do, in the coming year. The House Transportation Committee wants to do the right thing and pass the new federal highway spending bill; the last one was passed in 2003, and has expired. The Senate however, wants to wait 16 to 18 months to start working on their version of a new highway spending bill. Could it be that with the next election only one year away the Senate does not want the American people to know how much extra money they are going to have to pay for sound roads and bridges and how that money will be collected?


This is not a stab at the party in power: the struggle to find money to pay for our transportation infrastructure has been going on for years now. The Republican Transportation Committee Chairman tried to pass a bill that spent almost $125 billion more than the bill that finally passed both houses in 2003. He felt that amount of money was needed to repair and maintain our roads. He was shot down by members of both parties. That brings us to our current situation with the new Democratic Chairman of the Transportation saying we will need to spend almost $400 billion more than the last bill to keep traffic moving in America.


There is no doubt in many people’s minds that both the past and current Chairmen are correct. Our transportation infrastructure in the country is falling into decay and disrepair. Only about 5% of the $700 billion economic stimulus package is going to end up being spent on roads and bridges. The biggest problem both men faced has been and continues to be; where to get the needed money. Revenue generated by the federal gas tax has been falling as people drive less and buy more energy efficient vehicles. Electric vehicles pay nothing into the Highway Trust Fund but freely use the roads paid for by everyone else. Mass transit is subsidized by the gas tax also. The good part of that is the great help mass transit provides in reducing congestion by allowing people in urban areas to travel to work, shopping and entertainment without putting more cars on the roads. The vast majority of our cities were never designed to accommodate the number of residents and vehicles they now host, or even for mass transit.


As our population keeps growing and the citizens want to maintain our freedom to travel, congress is going to have to step up to the plate and devise a new strategy to fund our transportation infrastructure in a fair and equitable way. And in a way that does not inhibit our freedoms that this country was founded on. Some of the current suggestions include GPS tracking to tax you on the type of roads you use and the time of day you use them. Others are looking at an annual tax based on yearly odometer readings. Both of these will be partly based on your vehicle weight, mileage and where you live.


This is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Anyone with a cell phone or using a credit card can be tracked as you move about. Every credit card purchase you make shows your current location. The signal from your cell phone is pinpointed by the tower your phone uses to communicate. Have you noticed how fast your phone changes time when you cross a time zone? If you use any current technology you have not been able to travel with anonymity if someone wanted to track you for some time now. Don’t expect that to change back any time in the near future as new surveillance technology comes along faster than we can keep up.


With the mood of the current congress you can be almost certain that transportation as we know it is going to become much more costly in the future. EPA is now going to be looking at regulating carbon dioxide, one of the byproducts of burning gasoline. Congress is trying to pass a “Climate Change” bill that may add exorbitant taxes on to any carbon based fuel, such as gasoline and diesel fuel for your vehicle. Coal and natural gas used to generate electricity and fuels used to heat our homes will also very likely be included in the new tax scheme.


Motorcycles are an enjoyable and efficient way to travel, but there are some people out there, both inside and out of government that would like to see us off the roads. Modified exhaust is becoming a divisive issue, both within and outside of our motorcycling community. The American Motorcyclist Association has recently announced their release of model legislation communities can use to deal with sound complaints concerning motorcycles. This will incorporate a standard test that can be implemented to determine if a motorcycle is producing excess sound. For anyone who is not aware, the law in Wisconsin prohibits modifying the exhaust system on any vehicle to produce more sound than the vehicle made with the intact stock exhaust system. I have had several people get in touch with me this summer about tickets they received because of modified exhaust. All I can tell them is if they have changed their pipes and the motorcycle is louder than stock, the law is not on their side.


Motorcycle fatalities in many states are not keeping pace with the reduction in fatalities in other types of vehicles. Alcohol and single vehicle crashes continue to stand out in the annual motorcycle numbers. It is time for us to start taking care of our own and use peer pressure to help keep each other alive. If you are going to drink, park the bike. Get trained and licensed. Riding is fun, funerals are not.

The bottom line in all of this is that Freedom of the Road is not guaranteed. Members of ABATE of Wisconsin and our counterparts across the country are going to have to stay vigilant and keep up the fight to be able to maintain our motorcycling way of life. As deaths from other types of transportation continue to fall and deaths from motorcycle crashes do not, and sound complaints continue to pour in, we are going to have to work especially hard to make sure we are not legislated off the road.
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Enjoy every sandwich