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"Truth is authority. Authority is not truth."--Christine Ebersole

Rather than answer the call of a shallow party-line hack like Utah State Representative Curtis Oda to "proudly" run Ole Glory up a pole and celebrate 9-11 ... a date which should more appropriately "live in infamy" like December 7 ... I chose instead to mark the 8th anniversary of our 2nd Pearl Harbor by riding 1100 miles from South Florida to the Washington DC Beltway suburb of Silver Spring MD. In so doing, I logged my 43rd Iron Butt ride and not coincidentally my "11th" SaddleSore 1000.

I had a mixed agenda for my three-day stay in our nation's capital, not the least of which would be gazing at the gaggle of true believers in Glenn Beck's 9-12 Project gathered on the National Mall for an Astroturf Tea Party. What I saw was life imitating art, with Beck playing the role of deranged "Network" TV anchor Howard Beale while his staged, sign-waving and media-seeking followers vied to broadcast their prepared sound bytes and declare with Twitter-compliant brevity why they were "mad as Hell" and "not going to take it anymore".

I classify this Tea Party (promoted by Dick Armey's FreedomWorks.org) as Astroturf--rather than genuine grassroots--because although their mission may have been to meld a movement with a consistent message, what they and Beck's Beale have actually done is tap a common emotion:

DISCONTENT.

The sources of that discontent range from the understandable (such as those who have lost their jobs and homes in the recession) to the unacceptable (such as "birthers" and other bigots willing to accept or espouse almost anything that might "get that N**ger out of the White House"). And it was clear that those gathered under the Tea Party umbrella not only lacked a shared vision, but were working at cross purposes. Ask yourself, for example, how protestors waving images of Obama with a Hitler mustache ... or posters denouncing Pelosi as a Fascist ... can peacefully stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Neo-Nazis and Skinheads sporting swastika tats? And who in their right mind would label a man of mixed parentage a "Nazi" anyway, given that a principal and widely known plank in their Aryan supremacy platform has always been ethnic purity?

Not all in attendance were confused Klansmen, however. Many appeared to be average Americans rightfully concerned but deliberately misinformed about "Obamacare" by everyone from the Congressionally-rebuked Representative Joe Wilson ... to the not-quite-so-bright Constitutional attorney Mister "I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200" Michael Connelly ... to the fired treasurer of the Minuteman Project now selling patriotism by the page at "FaxDC.com", disgraced reactionary rip-off Stephen Eichler:

http://tinyurl.com/msokdc

http://tinyurl.com/kwnpmh

http://tinyurl.com/moajco

The misguided masses were also demanding that (a) their taxes be lowered today, while at the same time (b) their grandchildren be relieved of paying off our exploding national debt tomorrow. I applaud their belated interest in fiscal responsibility, but question why they were silent for all those years when Dubya and Darth were digging the hole in which we now find ourselves. I also have to wonder about their grasp of macroeconomics ... given that taxes and debt are Uncle Sam's two major sources of money (other than printing it) ... and that lowering the former usually increases the latter. Granted, one would think that reducing government spending will enable us to have our cake and eat it too. But even if we stop bailing out Wall Street billionaires and building bridges to nowhere, that won't free up enough funds to make us fiscally sound by the time young Johnny and Sally graduate. Obamacare or Nobamacare, it's simply too late now. And it's too bad Leonard Burman wasn't there to explain "Catastrophic Budget Failure" to this crowd:

http://tinyurl.com/kn879c

http://tinyurl.com/mymdwl

Yes, my fellow riders, I fear that Lady Liberty may be standing on her last leg. But she didn't get that way overnight. And it sure as Hell didn't start when "Run DC" stepped into the 'House:

http://tinyurl.com/l7hdb5

Since 11 September 2001, and for many years prior to that sad date, "We the Sheeple" have been fleeced, slaughtered, suckered in and sacrificed to serve the needs and fuel the greed of corrupt politicians, white collar con-men, and the cold-blooded multinational corporations Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about way back in 1961:

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

On 9-11-01, "the disastrous rise" Ike warned us about culminated in the (preordained?) fall of three (not two) World Trade Center towers ... the third (not struck or seriously damaged) housing three floors of (damning?) SEC securities transaction records. On that day, we also suffered the loss of three thousand lives (with tens of thousands more to follow) ... four commercial airliners (with all on board vaporized or otherwise disposed of) ... and a gaping (but wide enough for a 757?) hole in the side of the Pentagon, once known as the world's most secure building. Yet even today, two elections and a new administration later, our Big Brother government expects us to believe that all of this masterfully-plotted and perfectly-timed destruction was accomplished in a matter of hours by 15 Saudis and 4 of their cousins using nothing more than big balls and box cutters.

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT ... or if you believe we have been told the truth, the whole truth, or anything close to the Truth about 9/11 ... then I ask you to Google "911 truth" and "911 peak oil" ... and take the time to objectively view and critically evaluate videos like these:

http://tinyurl.com/ml38wp

http://tinyurl.com/phfzeu

http://tinyurl.com/n684b7

http://tinyurl.com/kuca7w

I doubt if all the major assertions in any of these presentations are completely correct. But if just one of them is true, then logic dictates that everything the government has told us about 9/11 cannot be.

AND WHAT THE HELL DOES ALL THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BIKERS' RIGHTS?!?

The message lies in the parallels between the 9-11 Truth protestors, the 9-12 Tea Party organizers, and those who lead and serve our motorcyclists' rights organizations (MROs):

Like the Tea Party organizers, our MRO leaders must learn how to energize a diverse political base. The Tea Party organizers accomplish that by exploiting a common thread of discontent to bring them all together under one umbrella. MRO leaders can go that one better by focusing on motorcycle-specific issues that impact all riders ... chief among them being failure-to-yield and right-of-way violations (FTY/ROWVs) by care-less and discretionarily distracted drivers ... seeing to it that the riders they injure are cared for, and that families of fallen riders are provided for ... and assuring that cagers guilty of maiming and murdering bikers are brought to justice. In part due to our combined protests and the vigilance of a dedicated few, for example, nail-painter Lora Hunt now faces a six-count indictment of reckless homicide for taking the life of Anita Zaffke:

http://tinyurl.com/nybs79

Once MRO leaders establish a motorcycling-specific focus, they must remain true to that focus. Divert the attention of the membership, and you dilute the effectiveness of the organization. Yes, this very article reflects that motorcyclists are affected by many issues that are not motorcycling-specific, but THERE IS NO AMPERSAND ("&") BETWEEN THE "M" AND "R" IN "MRO". Even the largest of our bikers' rights groups have limited political capital, and if not invested wisely it is wasted. MROs who lead loyal freedom fighters into battles over extraneous issues both limit their potential and fragment their base. And MRO leaders like TMRA2 Finance Officer Tom Maddux who spread unsubstantiated hoaxes and alarms about ridiculous threats that do not exist ... like Obama "[raising] the communist flag over the White House on Sept. 20th" ... destroy their own integrity and damage the credibility of both their MRO and our movement:

http://tinyurl.com/ls2fy4

Finally, like the 9/11 Truthers, bikers' rights activists and advocates must stick to our guns and stay true to our cause if we expect our voices to be heard. For any number of disturbing reasons, millions of American Sheeple simply don't want to hear the Truth about 9/11. And sadly, millions more in the mainstream could care less about motorcycling issues, motorcyclists' rights, or motorcycle awareness and safety. But the 9/11 Truthers are never going to give up until their issues are addressed.

AND NEITHER SHOULD WE.

Speaking strictly for myself and no other individuals or organizations,

Bruce Arnold

Bruce@LdrLongDistanceRider.com
Co-Moderator, Bruce-n-RC's Biker Forum
Author and Publisher, LdrLongDistanceRider.com
Mile Eater Gold Member, Iron Butt Association (IBA)
Sustaining Member, Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF)
2009 Chairman's Circle, American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)
Signatory, 911 Truth Statement & Petition (911Truth.org|ae911Truth.org)

P.S. Thanks to Robert "RC" Conroy of BigBendBikersForFreedom.com, who put much of this together long before I did, and has yet to say "I told you so".

REJECT CITIZENS UNITED v. FEC:

http://ldrlongdistancerider.com/07

REPEAL THE PATRIOT ACT:

http://ldrlongdistancerider.com/03

REFUSE CLOUDMARK CENSORSHIP:

http://ldrlongdistancerider.com/02

RE-ELECT NOBODY:

http://ldrlongdistancerider.com/01

REALLY INVESTIGATE 9/11:

http://911truthbikers.com

READ BIKERS RIGHTS NEWS:

http://bikernews.ldrlongdistancerider.com