ONE NATION, UNDER LITIGATION As our Nation celebrated its independence and
heritage this past July Fourth, we also became united against a new attack on
our country and our Patriotism from our own judiciary.

Most of us grew up reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school, the words
rolling as easily off our tongues as the ABC's and 1-2-3's, and Americans in
general are appalled that a federal appeals court would take aim at our
sacred oath. And why now, at a time when our country is united in defiance
of terrorist aggression, and our fellow countrymen pray to a higher authority
for strength and guidance?

Bikers didn't need 9-11 to catalyze our Patriotism and love for our country.
Many motorcyclists are veterans, and most of us are more civically involved
and politically aware than the average citizen. Despite a reputation for
rabble rousing and a rebellious lifestyle, we routinely recite the Pledge of
Allegiance at our meetings, rallies and gatherings, and we did so even before
it became politically correct.

Former President Clinton once said that you can't love your country and hate
your government, but most bikers would respond that we love our country
enough to want to fix it. Now, a San Francisco court gives us yet another
reason to question authority.

Politicians have been quick to wrap themselves in the flag since the court's
June 27 decision, and both sides of the aisle and even President Bush have
decried the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declaration that reciting the
Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because of the
words "under God" inserted by Congress in 1954.

In a 2-1 decision, the court said the phrase "one nation under God" amounts
to a government endorsement of religion in violation of the separation of
church and state. The case was brought by a California atheist who objected
to his daughter being compelled to listen to her second-grade classmates
recite the pledge.

Critics of the decision were flabbergasted and warned that it calls into
question the use of "In God We Trust" on the nation's currency, the public
singing of patriotic songs like "God Bless America," even the use of the
phrase "So help me God" when judges are sworn into office.

The ruling, if allowed to stand, would mean schoolchildren could no longer
recite the pledge, at least in the nine Western states covered by the court:
Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and
Washington state.

However, the ruling does not take effect for several months, to allow further
appeals. The government can ask the court to reconsider, or take its case to
the U.S. Supreme Court. Incidentally, the Supreme Court itself begins each
of its sessions with the phrase "God save the United States and this
honorable court."

The 9th Circuit is the nation's most overturned appellate court - partly
because it is the largest, but also because it tends to make liberal,
activist opinions, and because the cases it hears - on a range of issues from
environmental laws to property rights to civil rights - tend to challenge the
status quo.

Congress inserted "under God" at the height of the Cold War after a campaign
by the Knights of Columbus, religious leaders and others who wanted to
distinguish the United States from what they regarded as godless communism.

 

USA PATRIOT ACT IS UNPATRIOTIC A complete and utter overreaction to the
tragic events of September 11th has taken place. I don't believe the people
of this great country know that Congress has rendered the Fourth Amendment of
the United States Constitution null and void! How did this happen? By
rushing to pass the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act" or USA
PATRIOT Act of 2001.

It allows the application of F.I.S.A. (Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance
Act) to domestic investigations. This allows law enforcement to get around
strict rules of the Fourth Amendment. The F.I.S.A. was originally written to
apply solely to foreign intelligence gathering. The PATRIOT Act expands
F.I.S.A. to include domestic matters. This means that a set of rules for
dealing with foreign spies can now be used on United States Citizens.

The PATRIOT Act also contains an expansion of Federal Surveillance to include
roving wiretaps. This means that if your brother-in-law is doing something
to get his phone tapped, when he comes to visit at Christmas, even though you
are doing nothing wrong and have no knowledge of what he is doing, the
wiretap follows him and your phone is tapped while he is visiting.

Congress apparently wasn't satisfied with just the Fourth Amendment, they
also went after the First Amendment. Groups that use "criminal" methods to
intimidate government are now considered "Domestic Terrorists". Civil
disobedience has been the best way to protest unfair or unjust laws since our
nation was formed. Under this law, women's suffrage groups of the 19th
century and civil rights groups of this century could be defined as "Domestic
Terrorists," and maybe your group is next.

Everyone should call or write their Congressional representatives and demand
that the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 be repealed! If they don't, we should elect
a Congress that will. That is, if we are still allowed to hold elections.

BEAR, Iron Cross Motorcycle Club
Chairman, Georgia Confederation of Clubs

 

AUTHORITIES ARE INVESTIGATING THE WRONG GANG At last, a journalist makes
sense of the recent biker violence and the subsequent (over)reactions by law
enforcement, and Mike Seate of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review even takes shots
at his colleagues in the press for sensationalizing these events and working
in concert with the police in prompting public hysteria. Read on for Mr.
Seate's take on this situation, as published in his July 15, 2002 article:

Over the last few months, the motorcycle gang that made headlines for its
rebellious, anti-social antics in the 1960s has been in the news again.

Hells Angels members now are middle-aged and graying, but they've been
involved in fatal shootings in New York and Laughlin, Nev., had their names
linked to international drug-smuggling rings and even prompted the summoning
of the National Guard when they showed up at a New Hampshire motorcycle rally
last month.

Unfortunately, all of this hype has little to do with the reality of working
alongside a group of area Hells Angels a few weeks ago.

For a group that TV news teams and police departments from Amsterdam to Los
Angeles have described as "a wealthy, sophisticated drug cartel," these guys
were taking nothing stronger than Advil.

The Lake Coast chapter of the Hells Angels, who attended a motorcycle
festival at Cleveland's Thompson Dragway, were an older, friendly lot for a
bunch of guys who've been painted with the same brush as al-Qaida terrorists.
If the Angels and other motorcycle gangs are, in fact, reaping billions from
operating alleged drug empires, the profits haven't trickled down to Akron
yet. These bikers partied on bargain beer, lived in a 20-year-old trailer
and cooked their meals on a tiny, 99-cent discount store barbecue grill.

For all of their multi-million dollar budgets and high technology
surveillance equipment, you'd think the AFT and FBI would realize that
millionaire drug dealers don't ride 10-year-old Harleys and walk around with
fewer teeth than are found in the back row of a Willie Nelson concert. Maybe
the biggest crime being committed here is felony stereotyping.

It's true that many people over-romanticize the outlaw biker image and ignore
it when these guys do break the law. But why are we still vilifying a group
that contains a few punch-out artists and small-time dope peddlers when
white-collar crimes - from stock fraud to dodgy accounting practices that
affect the lives and jobs of millions - still don't get guys in Armani suits
stereotyped as thieves?

Maybe it's because law enforcement agencies can use the so-called threat of
biker gangs to scare the populace and beef up their operating budgets.

And it's a lot easier to roust a half-employed guy in a leather jacket for
selling $50 worth of cocaine than it is to investigate the highest levels of
corporate America. If the FBI is, in fact, looking to apprehend career
criminals, they should shift their spy glasses from the trailer parks to the
boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies.

For years, the media and society at large have labeled all members of certain
groups by the actions of a few. Guilt-by-association, for some unknown
reason, applies to some of society's minorities and not others; no one
targeted red-haired Christian gun nuts after Timothy McVeigh bombed the
Oklahoma City Federal Building, but it's a sure bet that Arabic men
interested in airline jobs are being advised to seek different career paths
these days.

Surely, some Hells Angels have broken the law in lots of weird and horrible
ways. But so have plenty of Masons, Shriners, politicians and, as we learned
last week, executives at energy giant WorldCom and Qwest, a Denver-based
telecommunications firm.

Of course, experienced members of the media know this already. It just
doesn't make a good story.

 

MOTORCYCLE MARINES RIDE ON - OooooRah! In the jungles and rugged terrain of
Nicaragua and Panama during the "Banana Wars" and on the scarred landscape of
France during World War I, the Marine Corps and Harley-Davidson created a
bond forged in combat. That bond was recently renewed when two Marines
rounded the corner of Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. this Fourth of
July aboard Harley "Fatboys" during the National Independence Day Parade, and
the Motorcycle Marines were reborn.

"Starting this summer, hand picked Marine Recruiters will begin appearing at
parades and regional events aboard gleaming, fire engine red and chrome
Harley-Davidson motorcycles," said Sergeant Jimmie Perkins in a USMC
Recruiting Command story. The motorcycles will join the Marine Corps' other
event-marketing vehicle, a red Humvee.

"Harley-Davidson and the Marine Corps share a special place in the hearts of
the American people," said Major Gen. Jerry D. Humble, Commanding General of
Marine Corps Recruiting Command. "With a shared pride of being known as the
best, Harley-Davidson and the United States Marine Corps represent ideals
that have made our nation great."

 

ROUND-THE-WORLD MOTORCYCLE RACE BEGINS The first ever round-the-world
motorcycle race has started from London.

Covering 25,000 miles through 20 countries, five deserts and four continents,
the 24 competitors will be on the road for 95 days. The event will raise
more than $160,000 for charities including Sight Savers, The Meningitis Fund
and for Alzheimer's groups.

Mr. Sanders - who holds the Guinness world record for riding around the globe
on a motorcycle (31 days and 20 hours) - and who has bicycled around the
world twice, says the competitors will have their minds on the grueling task
of covering up to 1,000 miles a day. "The riders are going to find it hard.
They have had to train a lot over the last 12 months," he said. "They will
be riding an average of 400 to 700 miles and up to 18 hours a day."

After their send-off in England, the bikes will be shipped to the United
States, where the race will officially begin in three weeks.

 

WEIRD NEWS OF THE MONTH: Mayor Quits After Chucking Bottle At Biker.
Criminal charges may be brought against former Sodus Point, New York, Mayor
Donald Buchwald over allegations that he threw a plastic bottle at a passing
motorcyclist, State Police told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
newspaper.

Buchwald resigned July 1, a day after he was accused of hitting the
motorcyclist in the shoulder for driving too fast through the village in the
early morning. Buchwald denied that he threw the bottle, saying he went out
to the curb and only yelled at a group of motorcyclists to slow down and stop
revving their bikes.

Trooper John Jackson said police have statements from 10 witnesses and the
motorcyclist that claim Buchwald was the culprit. "It's not just a case of
'He said, she said,'" Jackson said. "You have 10 people saying one thing and
another person saying another thing. Who do you believe?"

The motorcyclist said that he didn't see who threw the full bottle, but was
told by friends it was Buchwald. He was treated at a local hospital for a
bruised arm.

 

WELCOME TO NCOM The National Coalition of Motorcyclists would like to
welcome new NCOM board members "Little Jimmy" Rouse, Business Manager for the
Modified Motorcycle Association (MMA) of California; Jimi Ricci, Chairman of
the MMA of Massachusetts; and "Cotton" Tedder, President of the Concerned
Bikers Association (CBA) of North Carolina.

NCOM bids a fond farewell to longtime board member Rick Nail, past-President
of the CBA of North Carolina, who retired this year from the NCOM Board of
Directors.

The NCOM Legislative Task Force wishes to welcome aboard two new members: Joe
"Cowboy" Dickey, State Coordinator for ABATE of Pennsylvania, and Kate
Butcher, former State President of ABATE of West Virginia and wife of fellow
NCOM-LTF member West Virginia State Delegate Greg Butcher.

NCOM would also like to welcome ABATE of Utah, Texas ABATE Confederation, and
the Sons of Liberty Riders to the NCOM family of Member Groups.

WELCOME ABOARD TO ALL!

 

NCOM BOARD MEMBER RUNS FOR OFFICE The National Coalition of Motorcyclists
has long advocated getting our own people elected to legislative offices, and
we are proud to announce that NCOM board member Jeff Barone, President of the
Rhode Island Motorcycle Association (RIMA), has tossed his hat in the
political arena.

"As I announced at this year's NCOM Convention, I have moved forward and
declared to be a candidate for The Rhode Island House of Representatives,"
beems Barone. "As you all know, one of our goals is to get motorcyclists
elected to public office. With having a voice at the State House, we will be
heard. Although there are more issues than FREEDOM OF CHOICE, that will be
my main platform along with AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE and a tight focus on
EDUCATION."

As we all know, running for office takes money, so anyone interested in
supporting Jeff's political bid can send donations to "Friends To Elect
Jeffrey P. Barone," and mail them c/o 125 Smith Ave., Unit 3A, Greenville, RI
02828

 

QUOTABLE QUOTES: "So, Your Honor, the pledge is unconstitutional because it
says 'Under God'. Guess that means when you were sworn in with your hand on
a Bible, and at the end of your oath repeated 'So Help Me God,' that makes
your job unconstitutional, therefore you have no job, which means your ruling
doesn't mean squat."
Comedian DENNIS MILLER, regarding the judges who declared the Pledge of
Allegiance unconstitutional