Greg, Nobody and I set up at the Longriders Run in New Summerfield inhopes of getting some support built in the eastern one third of the state. We encountered some of the most miserable weather this weekend than ispractical for travel and attendance was down drastically from previous years.
As your chairman, I spoke to the group from the bandstand and explained what we do for Texas riders. Of course there were plenty of cheers until I explained that what we do is virtually without any help from them. We managed to pick up a hand full of memberships and renewals saturday but based on the number of riders in east Texas we are still without help in that area.
Warrior and State Rep. Chuck Hopson came out on Friday to visit with the riders and seek their support in his upcoming election. Those he met couldn't believe an ordinary rider who owns a pharmacy could be a State Rep.
Countless numbers of those present came up to shake your chairman's hand and let us know how much they appreciate what we are doing. My reply was short and to the point. "No you don't. You can't possibly appreciate what we do when you have absolutely no idea what it is we do. What you appreciate is that you don't have to wear a helmet to ride and your bike insurance is still reasonable. You appreciate that the Road Block Bill did not pass and that you can carry a concealed weapon. Mostly you appreciate not having to put forth any effort or money to make these things happen. If you truly appreciate what we do you would join the association and get involved by putting forth your share of the time, effort and money it requires to be effective." They could very quickly find a reason to be elsewhere when asked to join and help out.
Attended the COC meeting in Whitehorse on sunday and Karl Ford made it to that meeting.. We laid it on the line by giving them a list of candidates running in the east texas districts and what we knew of their records or their stated positions. In the House district 05 race between Mark Breding andBryan Hughes, we received a call from Chairman Soechting just prior to the meeting, that Mark Breding has withdrawn from the race. We are told Bob Glaze will file for the Democrat candidate position this week.We discussed the Assault Weapons Ban and the Patriot Act Reauthorization coming up for votes in congress and asked for their calls to US Senators and Congess to not renew either. We also discussed the quiet way the administration is working to give the CIA the authority to become a law enforcement agency for domestic crime as part of the intelligence (if there issuch a thing in DC) reorganization. It was all but done when word leaked out and now they say nothing has been voted in or out as of right now.While this may be true we know it would already be official if it hadn't come to light. In their minds you can bet it already is a done deal.
There was one hell of a battle over formation of the FBI. The only way it finally passed was that they would not carry weapons and would not be involved in law enforcement. They would be used for investigation ONLY and any information gathered would be turned over to local authorities for enforcement. We all can see how that turned out. The government has just announced that 50,000 M16s will be passed out to the country's Game Wardens. The reason given for this show of firepower according to officials is the game wardens are outgunned by the AK47s in the hands of those they must face on a daily basis. I would be very interested in just how many more federal and state employees are going to become armed agents while cutting back on individuals rights to protect themselves..
Our military has seized tons of AK47s and ammo and destroyed them. We then purchased $50,000,000 in weapons to arm the Iraqui authorities. This despite the AK47 was cheaper and far superior to what we have to offer. We did not sign one member at the COC meeting. We did receive words ofsupport to come but we hear that all the time. We'll wait and see if any true support comes from this group. We did however have a Life member fromthe Cherokee Wind Warriors M/C turn in his patches. He says he can'tsupport the association because he believes the Patriot Act is necessary for our safety. He feels we should forget that the states are supposed to run the federal government and the feds should be able to pass laws to protect us with no consideration for the rights of the states. He did not even bother to give his name and I didn't ask. If he is as opposed to our actions as he expressed he will contact the editor to stop his Warrior after the next one comes out.
We are having major computer probs at the office. We have put it in the shop twice in two weeks, paid over $200 and it is still not much for service. We can not access Word to file data or retrieve files from Documents nowbecause it says Microsoft Office 2000 Premium is missing among other programs. Hopefully someone who comes to the Advisor meeting this saturday can furnish some answers to the problems. It runs at about the speed of a 233 CPU. At times even though I type with only one finger it is necessary to pause between letters to give it time to print each.We will attend the Transportation Committee hearing in the morning to possibly discuss Safety and Awareness Billboards.
Have I done that which I can do to the best of my ability?
HELL NO !! - but I'm trying.
Sputnik
